Honorary Professor Zhiguo Yuan
Honorary Professor

Zhiguo Yuan

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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)

781 - 800 of 805 works

2001

Journal Article

A systematic approach to error isolation in computerized wastewater simulation models

Lennox, J. A., Yuan, Z. and Harmand, J. (2001). A systematic approach to error isolation in computerized wastewater simulation models. Water Science And Technology, 43 (7), 367-376.

A systematic approach to error isolation in computerized wastewater simulation models

2001

Conference Publication

Titrimetric biosensing of biological wastewater treatment plants

Gernaey, K., Yuan, Z. and Vanrolleghem, P. (2001). Titrimetric biosensing of biological wastewater treatment plants. The 1st IWA conference on Instrumentation, Control, Malmo, Sweden, June 3-7, 2001. Sweden: IWA Publishing.

Titrimetric biosensing of biological wastewater treatment plants

2001

Conference Publication

Investigation of the enhanced biological phosphorus removal of full-scale wastewater treatment plant

Saunders, A. M., Oehmen, A., Blackall, L. L., Yuan, Z. and Keller, J. (2001). Investigation of the enhanced biological phosphorus removal of full-scale wastewater treatment plant. Environmental Engineering Event, Noosa, QLD, 20/11/2001 - 23/11/2001. Noosa, QLD: Multimedia Technologies Unit - Flinders University.

Investigation of the enhanced biological phosphorus removal of full-scale wastewater treatment plant

2001

Conference Publication

Sludge blanket height control in secondary clarifiers

Yuan, Z., Bogaert, H., Rosen, C. and Verstraete, W. (2001). Sludge blanket height control in secondary clarifiers. The 1st IWA Conference on Instrumentation, Control & Aut, Malmo, Sweden, June 3-7, 2001. Sweden: IWA Publishing.

Sludge blanket height control in secondary clarifiers

2001

Journal Article

Supervisory control of wastewater treatment plants by combining principal component analysis and fuzzy c-means clustering

Rosen, C. and Yuan, Z. (2001). Supervisory control of wastewater treatment plants by combining principal component analysis and fuzzy c-means clustering. Water Science And Technology, 43 (7), 147-156.

Supervisory control of wastewater treatment plants by combining principal component analysis and fuzzy c-means clustering

2001

Conference Publication

Control of nitrate recirculation predentrification systems

Yuan, Z., Oehmen, A. and Ingildsen, P. (2001). Control of nitrate recirculation predentrification systems. The 1st Iwa Conference on Instrumentation, control & Automatin, Malmo, Sweden, June 3-7, 2001. Sweden: IWA Publishing.

Control of nitrate recirculation predentrification systems

2000

Conference Publication

Supervisory Control of Wastewater Treatment Plants by Combining Principal Component Analysis and Fuzzy C-Means Clustering

Rosen, C. and Yuan, Z. (2000). Supervisory Control of Wastewater Treatment Plants by Combining Principal Component Analysis and Fuzzy C-Means Clustering. 5th International Symposium Systems Analysis and Computing in Water Quality Management, Gent, Belgium, 18-20 September, 2000. Belgium: IWA.

Supervisory Control of Wastewater Treatment Plants by Combining Principal Component Analysis and Fuzzy C-Means Clustering

2000

Conference Publication

A Systematic Approach to Error Isolation in Computerized Wastewater Simulation Models

Lennox, J., Yuan, Z. and Harmond, J. (2000). A Systematic Approach to Error Isolation in Computerized Wastewater Simulation Models. 5th International Symposium Systems Analysis and Computing in Water Quality Management, Gent, Belgium, 18-20 September, 2000. Belgium: IWA.

A Systematic Approach to Error Isolation in Computerized Wastewater Simulation Models

2000

Journal Article

Reducing the size of a Nitrogen Removal Activated Sludge Plant by shortening the retention time of inert solids via sludge storage

Yuan, ZG, Bogaert, H, Leten, J and Verstraete, W (2000). Reducing the size of a Nitrogen Removal Activated Sludge Plant by shortening the retention time of inert solids via sludge storage. Water Research, 34 (2), 539-549. doi: 10.1016/S0043-1354(99)00177-3

Reducing the size of a Nitrogen Removal Activated Sludge Plant by shortening the retention time of inert solids via sludge storage

2000

Conference Publication

Development of the H-Doc Biosensor for Characterisation of Activated Sludge Kinetics and Wastewater Composition

Pratt, S., Yuan, Z. and Keller, J. (2000). Development of the H-Doc Biosensor for Characterisation of Activated Sludge Kinetics and Wastewater Composition. 4th Annual Australian Environmental Engineering Research Event, Victor Harbor, South Australia, Australia, 21-24 November,1999. Australia: EERE Organising Committee.

Development of the H-Doc Biosensor for Characterisation of Activated Sludge Kinetics and Wastewater Composition

1999

Journal Article

The process of model building and simulation of ill-defined systems: Application to wastewater treatment

Kops, S, Vangheluwe, H, Claeys, F, Vanrolleghem, P, Yuan, Z and Vansteenkiste, G (1999). The process of model building and simulation of ill-defined systems: Application to wastewater treatment. Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, 5 (4), 298-312. doi: 10.1076/mcmd.5.4.298.3675

The process of model building and simulation of ill-defined systems: Application to wastewater treatment

1999

Conference Publication

A titrimetric respirometer measuring the total nitrifiable nitrogen

Yuan, Z., Bogaert, H. and Verstraete, W. (1999). A titrimetric respirometer measuring the total nitrifiable nitrogen. Thirteenth Forum for Applied Biotechnology, Het Pand, Gent, 22-23 September 1999. Belgium: Unversity of Gent.

A titrimetric respirometer measuring the total nitrifiable nitrogen

1999

Journal Article

On-line estimation of the maximum specific growth rate of nitrifiers in activated sludge systems

Yuan, ZG, Bogaert, H, Devisscher, M, Vanrolleghem, P and Verstraete, W (1999). On-line estimation of the maximum specific growth rate of nitrifiers in activated sludge systems. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 65 (3), 265-273. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0290(19991105)65:33.3.CO;2-6

On-line estimation of the maximum specific growth rate of nitrifiers in activated sludge systems

1999

Conference Publication

Optimization and control of nitrogen removal activated sludge processes: A review of recent developments

Yuan, Z. and Lant, P. A. (1999). Optimization and control of nitrogen removal activated sludge processes: A review of recent developments. 9th European Congress on Biotechnology, Brussels, Belgium, 11-15 July 1999. European Federation of Biotechnology.

Optimization and control of nitrogen removal activated sludge processes: A review of recent developments

1998

Journal Article

An observer-based approach to modeling error identification

Yuan, ZG, Vangheluwe, H and Vansteenkiste, GC (1998). An observer-based approach to modeling error identification. Transactions of the Society for Computer Simulation International, 15 (1), 20-33.

An observer-based approach to modeling error identification

1998

Journal Article

Sludge storage for countering nitrogen shock leads and toxicity incidents

Yuan, Z, Bogaert, H, Vansteenkiste, G and Verstraete, W (1998). Sludge storage for countering nitrogen shock leads and toxicity incidents. Water Science and Technology, 37 (12), 173-180. doi: 10.1016/S0273-1223(98)00371-0

Sludge storage for countering nitrogen shock leads and toxicity incidents

1997

Journal Article

Control of external carbon addition to predenitrifying systems

Yuan, Zhiguo, Bogaert, Herwig, Vanrolleghem, Peter, Thoeye, Chris, Vansteenkiste, Ghislain and Verstraete, Willy (1997). Control of external carbon addition to predenitrifying systems. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 123 (11), 1080-1085.

Control of external carbon addition to predenitrifying systems

1997

Journal Article

Control of external carbon addition to predenitrifying systems

Yuan, ZG, Bogaert, H, Vanrolleghem, P, Thoeye, C, Vansteenkiste, G and Verstraete, W (1997). Control of external carbon addition to predenitrifying systems. Journal of Environmental Engineering-Asce, 123 (11), 1080-1086. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(1997)123:11(1080)

Control of external carbon addition to predenitrifying systems

1997

Journal Article

New sensor based on pH effect of denitrification process

Bogaert, H, Vanderhasselt, A, Gernaey, K, Yuan, ZG, Thoeye, C and Verstraete, W (1997). New sensor based on pH effect of denitrification process. Journal of Environmental Engineering-Asce, 123 (9), 884-891. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(1997)123:9(884)

New sensor based on pH effect of denitrification process

1997

Journal Article

Improving the observer-based FDI design for efficient fault isolation

Yuan, ZG, Vansteenkiste, GC and Wen, CY (1997). Improving the observer-based FDI design for efficient fault isolation. International Journal of Control, 68 (1), 197-218. doi: 10.1080/002071797223794

Improving the observer-based FDI design for efficient fault isolation

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

    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

  • 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

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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