Honorary Professor Zhiguo Yuan
Honorary Professor

Zhiguo Yuan

Email: 

Background

Prof Yuan received his PhD degree in aeronautical engineering in 1992 from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. He changed research direction to wastewater management in 1994, when he took up a postdoctoral research fellow position at Ghent University, Belgium. He joined the Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC), renamed as the Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology in July 2021, at The University of Queensland in 1998. He served as the AWMC Deputy Director 2001-2014, and then the AWMC/ACWEB Director in 2015 to July 2022. His research focuses on development of innovative solutions for urban water management and environmental biotechnology through effective integration of fundamental science and applied engineering. He won over $50M in government, industry and university research funding including many ARC Discovery, Linkage and Fellowship grants, mostly as the lead Chief Investigator. Prof Yuan was one of the founding members of the $117m Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities. He has published intensively both in specialised journals such as Water Research and Environmental Science and Technology, and multidisciplinary journals including Nature and Science. He is the founder of three biotechnology businesses namely SeweX, Cloevis and Lodomat, and his research has delivered documented savings of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Australian water industry. His research achievements and leadership have been recognized through major national and international awards including the 2015 ATSE Clunies Ross Award and the International Water Association (IWA) 2014 Global Project Innovation Award (Applied Research Category). Prof Yuan was named as one of Engineers Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers for 2015. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), an IWA Distinguished Fellow, and was awarded the highly prestigious ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2017. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2019.

Availability

Honorary Professor Zhiguo Yuan is:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Environmental biotechnology Environmental engineering

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Engineering, Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics

Research interests

  • Integrated Urban Water Management

    A whole-of-system approach to managing multiple water resources in an urban water cycle and multiple elements in an urban water system.

  • Digital water

    Descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive data analytics for proactive urban water management

  • Sustainable carbon bioeconomy

    Gas fermentation to convert organic wastes to carbon commodities

  • Corrosion and odour management in sewers systems

    Effective control of H2S production in sewer systems and minimise its effect on sewer corrosion and odour generation

  • Sludge management in wastewater treatment systems

    Innovative technologies for enhancing bioenergy recovery from wastewater and reducing sludge production

  • Greenhouse gas emissions from water and wastewater systems

    Fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater systems including CH4 emission in sewers, N2O emission from wastewater treatment processes and CH4 and N2O emissions from estuaries, dams and bays

  • Biological nutrient removal and recovery

    Innovative technologies and fundamental science for biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal and recovery from wastewater

Research impacts

  • His research in sewer management has fundamentally changed practice of many Australian water utilities in corrosion and odour management in sewers. The documented savings to date for the water industry amounts to approximately $400 million, based on the testimonial letters provided by industry partners.
  • He has collaborated with almost all major water utilities in Australia through many ARC Industry Linkage projects as well as a large number of collaborative research projects.
  • He was a founding and Executive Committee member of the $117 million Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cites, with over 80 industry partners, and led the Future Technologies Program Leader.
  • Established SeweX, a consulting company under UniQuest Pty Ltd, in 2008. SeweX has undertaken over $3 million consulting work since 2009. Clients included both Australian water utilities and companies from overseas. SeweX has been recently licensed to Envirosuite, an ASX listed technology company.
  • Established Cloevis Pty Ltd, a spin-off company from my sewer research. The company has licenced its patented technology on biofilm removal from sewer pipes to USP Technologies (US).
  • His research on sludge treatment using free nitrous acid has led to the development of the patented Lodomat technology that substantially increases biogas production from wastewater sludge. The technology has recently attracted >$5M (+ >$4M in-kind) industry and government funding for pilot plant demonstrations.
  • His research has frequently attracted media attention, with many articles published in newspapers such as The Australian and The Courier Mail, the News Agency Websites (e.g. ABC, Xinhua Agency), and industry magazines, newsletters and websites. Five of his papers have Altmetric Attention Scores that are in the top 5% of the 6.4 million research outputs tracked.
  • He is an Editor of Water Research, a top journal in water science and technology.
  • He published over 500 papers in internationally leading journals (the full list and citation record: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1IPdGqkAAAAJ&hl=en)

Search Professor Zhiguo Yuan’s works on UQ eSpace

805 works between 1992 and 2025
All (805) Journal Article (623) Book Chapter (9) Conference Publication (169) Book (1) Other Outputs (3)

201 - 220 of 805 works

2020

Journal Article

Free nitrous acid-based suppression of sulfide production in sewer sediments: in-situ effect mechanism

Zuo, Zhiqiang, Zheng, Min, Chang, Jian, Ren, Daheng, Huang, Xia, Yuan, Zhiguo and Liu, Yanchen (2020). Free nitrous acid-based suppression of sulfide production in sewer sediments: in-situ effect mechanism. Science of the Total Environment, 715 136871, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136871

Free nitrous acid-based suppression of sulfide production in sewer sediments: in-situ effect mechanism

2020

Journal Article

Tuning the product selectivity of Cu hollow fiber gas diffusion electrode for efficient CO2 reduction to formate by controlled surface Sn electrodeposition

Rabiee, Hesamoddin, Zhang, Xueqin, Ge, Lei, Hu, Shihu, Li, Mengran, Smart, Simon, Zhu, Zhonghua and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Tuning the product selectivity of Cu hollow fiber gas diffusion electrode for efficient CO2 reduction to formate by controlled surface Sn electrodeposition. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 12 (19) acsami.0c03681, 21670-21681. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c03681

Tuning the product selectivity of Cu hollow fiber gas diffusion electrode for efficient CO2 reduction to formate by controlled surface Sn electrodeposition

2020

Journal Article

Unravelling kinetic and microbial responses of enriched nitrifying sludge under long-term exposure of cephalexin and sulfadiazine

Wang, Bingzheng, Ni, Bing-Jie, Yuan, Zhiguo and Guo, Jianhua (2020). Unravelling kinetic and microbial responses of enriched nitrifying sludge under long-term exposure of cephalexin and sulfadiazine. Water Research, 173 115592, 115592. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115592

Unravelling kinetic and microbial responses of enriched nitrifying sludge under long-term exposure of cephalexin and sulfadiazine

2020

Journal Article

Model-based investigation of membrane biofilm reactors coupling anammox with nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation

Liu, Tao, Guo, Jianhua, Hu, Shihu and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Model-based investigation of membrane biofilm reactors coupling anammox with nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation. Environment International, 137 105501, 105501. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105501

Model-based investigation of membrane biofilm reactors coupling anammox with nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation

2020

Journal Article

Effects of in-sewer dosing of iron-rich drinking water sludge on wastewater collection and treatment systems

Rebosura, Mario, Salehin, Sirajus, Pikaar, Ilje, Kulandaivelu, Jagadeeshkumar, Jiang, Guangming, Keller, Jürg, Sharma, Keshab and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Effects of in-sewer dosing of iron-rich drinking water sludge on wastewater collection and treatment systems. Water Research, 171 115396, 115396. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.115396

Effects of in-sewer dosing of iron-rich drinking water sludge on wastewater collection and treatment systems

2020

Journal Article

Wastewater treatment technology selection under various influent conditions and effluent standards based on life cycle assessment

Zhang, Yizhen, Zhang, Chi, Qiu, Yong, Li, Bing, Pang, Hongtao, Xue, Yu, Liu, Yanchen, Yuan, Zhiguo and Huang, Xia (2020). Wastewater treatment technology selection under various influent conditions and effluent standards based on life cycle assessment. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 154 104562, 104562. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.104562

Wastewater treatment technology selection under various influent conditions and effluent standards based on life cycle assessment

2020

Journal Article

Improving wastewater management using free nitrous acid (FNA)

Duan, Haoran, Gao, Shuhong, Li, Xuan, Ab Hamid, Nur Hafizah, Jiang, Guangming, Zheng, Min, Bai, Xue, Bond, Philip L., Lu, Xuanyu, Chislett, Mariella M., Hu, Shihu, Ye, Liu and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Improving wastewater management using free nitrous acid (FNA). Water Research, 171 115382, 115382. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.115382

Improving wastewater management using free nitrous acid (FNA)

2020

Journal Article

Temperature-tolerated mainstream nitrogen removal by anammox and nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation in a membrane biofilm reactor

Liu, Tao, Khai Lim, Zhuan, Chen, Hui, Hu, Shihu, Yuan, Zhiguo and Guo, Jianhua (2020). Temperature-tolerated mainstream nitrogen removal by anammox and nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation in a membrane biofilm reactor. Environmental Science and Technology, 54 (5) acs.est.9b05650, 3012-3021. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b05650

Temperature-tolerated mainstream nitrogen removal by anammox and nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation in a membrane biofilm reactor

2020

Journal Article

Increased resistance of nitrite-admixed concrete to microbially induced corrosion in real sewers

Li, Xuan, Bond, Philip L., O’Moore, Liza, Wilkie, Simeon, Hanzic, Lucija, Johnson, Ian, Mueller, Kara, Yuan, Zhiguo and Jiang, Guangming (2020). Increased resistance of nitrite-admixed concrete to microbially induced corrosion in real sewers. Environmental Science and Technology, 54 (4) acs.est.9b06680, 2323-2333. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b06680

Increased resistance of nitrite-admixed concrete to microbially induced corrosion in real sewers

2020

Journal Article

Rapid and strong biocidal effect of ferrate on sulfidogenic and methanogenic sewer biofilms

Yan, Xiaofang, Sun, Jing, Kenjiahan, Ahezhuoli, Dai, Xiaohu, Ni, Bing-Jie and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Rapid and strong biocidal effect of ferrate on sulfidogenic and methanogenic sewer biofilms. Water Research, 169 115208, 115208. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.115208

Rapid and strong biocidal effect of ferrate on sulfidogenic and methanogenic sewer biofilms

2020

Journal Article

Water in China

Hao, Xiaodi, Chen, Guanghao and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Water in China. Water Research, 169 115256, 115256. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.115256

Water in China

2020

Journal Article

Both silver ions and silver nanoparticles facilitate horizontal transfer of plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance genes

Lu, Ji, Wang, Yue, Jin, Min, Yuan, Zhiguo, Bond, Philip and Guo, Jianhua (2020). Both silver ions and silver nanoparticles facilitate horizontal transfer of plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance genes. Water Research, 169 115229, 115229. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.115229

Both silver ions and silver nanoparticles facilitate horizontal transfer of plasmid-mediated antibiotic resistance genes

2020

Journal Article

Nitrite admixed concrete for wastewater structures: mechanical properties, leaching behavior and biofilm development

Li, Xuan, O'Moore, Liza, Wilkie, Simeon, Song, Yarong, Wei, Jing, Bond, Philip L., Yuan, Zhiguo, Hanzic, Lucija and Jiang, Guangming (2020). Nitrite admixed concrete for wastewater structures: mechanical properties, leaching behavior and biofilm development. Construction and Building Materials, 233 117341, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117341

Nitrite admixed concrete for wastewater structures: mechanical properties, leaching behavior and biofilm development

2020

Journal Article

Efficient nitrate removal from synthetic groundwater via in situ utilization of short-chain fatty acids from methane bioconversion

Chen, Hui, Liu, Shuai, Liu, Tao, Yuan, Zhiguo and Guo, Jianhua (2020). Efficient nitrate removal from synthetic groundwater via in situ utilization of short-chain fatty acids from methane bioconversion. Chemical Engineering Journal, 393 124594, 124594. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2020.124594

Efficient nitrate removal from synthetic groundwater via in situ utilization of short-chain fatty acids from methane bioconversion

2020

Journal Article

Anaerobic methane oxidation coupled to manganese reduction by members of the Methanoperedenaceae

Leu, Andy O., Cai, Chen, McIlroy, Simon J., Southam, Gordon, Orphan, Victoria J., Yuan, Zhiguo, Hu, Shihu and Tyson, Gene W. (2020). Anaerobic methane oxidation coupled to manganese reduction by members of the Methanoperedenaceae. The ISME Journal, 14 (4), 1030-1041. doi: 10.1038/s41396-020-0590-x

Anaerobic methane oxidation coupled to manganese reduction by members of the Methanoperedenaceae

2020

Journal Article

SewerSedfoam: a model for free surface flow, sediment transport, and deposited bed morphology in sewers

Murali, Madhu K., Hipsey, Matthew R., Ghadouani, Anas and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). SewerSedfoam: a model for free surface flow, sediment transport, and deposited bed morphology in sewers. Water, 12 (1) 270, 270. doi: 10.3390/w12010270

SewerSedfoam: a model for free surface flow, sediment transport, and deposited bed morphology in sewers

2020

Journal Article

Decreasing microbially influenced metal corrosion using free nitrous acid in a simulated water injection system

Zhong, Huiyun, Shi, Zhiming, Jiang, Guangming and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Decreasing microbially influenced metal corrosion using free nitrous acid in a simulated water injection system. Water Research, 172 115470, 115470. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.115470

Decreasing microbially influenced metal corrosion using free nitrous acid in a simulated water injection system

2020

Journal Article

Granular sludge coupling nitrate/nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation with Anammox: from proof-of-concept to high rate nitrogen removal

Fan, Sheng-Qiang, Xie, Guo-Jun, Lu, Yang, Liu, Bing-Feng, Xing, De-Feng, Han, Hong-Jun, Yuan, Zhiguo and Ren, Nan-Qi (2020). Granular sludge coupling nitrate/nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation with Anammox: from proof-of-concept to high rate nitrogen removal. Environmental Science and Technology, 54 (1) acs.est.9b02528, 297-305. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.9b02528

Granular sludge coupling nitrate/nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation with Anammox: from proof-of-concept to high rate nitrogen removal

2020

Conference Publication

Achieving combined partial nitrification and biological phosphorus removal in a side-stream sludge treatment system

Lu, Xuanyu, Duan, Haoran, Oehmen, Adrian, Carvalho, Gilda, Yuan, Zhiguo and Ye, Liu (2020). Achieving combined partial nitrification and biological phosphorus removal in a side-stream sludge treatment system. IWA Nutrient Removal and Recovery Conference, Helsinki, Finland, 8 - 12 June 2020. IWA.

Achieving combined partial nitrification and biological phosphorus removal in a side-stream sludge treatment system

2020

Journal Article

Effects of dosing iron- and alum-containing waterworks sludge on sulfide and phosphate removal in a pilot sewer

Shrestha, Sohan, Kulandaivelu, Jagadeeshkumar, Sharma, Keshab, Jiang, Guangming and Yuan, Zhiguo (2020). Effects of dosing iron- and alum-containing waterworks sludge on sulfide and phosphate removal in a pilot sewer. Chemical Engineering Journal, 387 124073, 124073. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2020.124073

Effects of dosing iron- and alum-containing waterworks sludge on sulfide and phosphate removal in a pilot sewer

Availability

Honorary Professor Zhiguo Yuan is:
Not available for supervision

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Airflow and temperature modelling for sewers

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jiuling Li

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Understanding of Ventilation-Based Drying for Sewer Corrosion Control

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Jiuling Li, Dr Zhetai Hu

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Data quality assurance in digitalisation of urban water management

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Helen Huang, Dr Jiuling Li, Dr Ruihong Qiu

  • Doctor Philosophy

    In-depth understanding of bioprocess and microbial community in a novel methane-based membrane biofilm reactor

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Jianhua Guo

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Extracellular Electron Transfer-Facilitated Microbial Conversion of Methanol by Eubacterium limosum

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Xueqin Zhang, Dr Bernardino Virdis

  • Doctor Philosophy

    The Understanding of Condensation-induced Concrete Corrsoion in the Sewer Crown Region

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Damien Batstone, Dr Jiuling Li

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Integrated use of magnesium and iron chemicals in urban wastewater systems

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Zhetai Hu

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Honorary Professor Zhiguo Yuan directly for media enquiries about:

  • Corrosion - sewers
  • Odour - sewers
  • Sewers
  • Wastewater management
  • Wastewater treatment
  • Water treatment

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