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)

81 - 100 of 805 works

2022

Journal Article

Re-configuring mainstream anammox

Wang, Zhiyao, Zheng, Min, Duan, Haoran, Hu, Shihu and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Re-configuring mainstream anammox. Chemical Engineering Journal, 445 136817, 1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2022.136817

Re-configuring mainstream anammox

2022

Journal Article

Electrochemical iron production to enhance anaerobic membrane treatment of wastewater

Hu, Zhetai, Zheng, Min, Hu, Shihu, Hong, Pei-Ying, Zhang, Xueqing, Prodanovic, Veljko, Zhang, Kefeng, Pikaar, Ilje, Ye, Liu, Deletic, Ana and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Electrochemical iron production to enhance anaerobic membrane treatment of wastewater. Water Research, 225 119202, 119202. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.119202

Electrochemical iron production to enhance anaerobic membrane treatment of wastewater

2022

Conference Publication

Network-wide control of sewer corrosion and odour by optimization of chemical dosing

Li, Jiuling, Li, Wei, Sharma, Keshab and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Network-wide control of sewer corrosion and odour by optimization of chemical dosing. IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11-15 September 2022.

Network-wide control of sewer corrosion and odour by optimization of chemical dosing

2022

Journal Article

Increasing the removal efficiency of antibiotic resistance through anaerobic digestion with free nitrous acid pretreatment

Liu, Wenbin, Li, Jianzheng, Li, Xianhui, Tian, Yajie, Meng, Jia, Zheng, Min and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Increasing the removal efficiency of antibiotic resistance through anaerobic digestion with free nitrous acid pretreatment. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 438 129535, 129535. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129535

Increasing the removal efficiency of antibiotic resistance through anaerobic digestion with free nitrous acid pretreatment

2022

Journal Article

Transforming anaerobically digested sludge into high-quality biosolids with an integrated physiochemical approach

Yu, Wenbo, Duan, Haoran, Wang, Zhiyao, Yang, Jiakuan, Yuan, Zhiguo and Zheng, Min (2022). Transforming anaerobically digested sludge into high-quality biosolids with an integrated physiochemical approach. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 184 106416, 106416. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106416

Transforming anaerobically digested sludge into high-quality biosolids with an integrated physiochemical approach

2022

Journal Article

Fate characteristics, exposure risk, and control strategy of typical antibiotics in Chinese sewerage system: a review

Cheng, Zhao, Dong, Qian, Yuan, Zhiguo, Huang, Xia and Liu, Yanchen (2022). Fate characteristics, exposure risk, and control strategy of typical antibiotics in Chinese sewerage system: a review. Environment International, 167 107396, 107396. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107396

Fate characteristics, exposure risk, and control strategy of typical antibiotics in Chinese sewerage system: a review

2022

Journal Article

Research and development of advanced structured packing in a rotating packed bed

Yuan, Zhi-Guo, Wang, Yu-Xia, Liu, You-Zhi, Wang, Dan, Jiao, Wei-Zhou and Liang, Peng-Fei (2022). Research and development of advanced structured packing in a rotating packed bed. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 49, 178-186. doi: 10.1016/j.cjche.2021.12.023

Research and development of advanced structured packing in a rotating packed bed

2022

Journal Article

The role of deep learning in urban water management: a critical review

Fu, Guangtao, Jin, Yiwen, Sun, Siao, Yuan, Zhiguo and Butler, David (2022). The role of deep learning in urban water management: a critical review. Water Research, 223 118973, 118973. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118973

The role of deep learning in urban water management: a critical review

2022

Journal Article

Sewerage surveillance tracking characteristics of human antibiotic emission in sewage

Dong, Qian, Cheng, Zhao, Yuan, Zhiguo, Huang, Xia and Liu, Yanchen (2022). Sewerage surveillance tracking characteristics of human antibiotic emission in sewage. Journal of Cleaner Production, 364 132479, 1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132479

Sewerage surveillance tracking characteristics of human antibiotic emission in sewage

2022

Journal Article

Selective enrichment of comammox Nitrospira in a moving bed biofilm reactor with sufficient oxygen supply

Zhao, Jing, Zheng, Min, Su, Zicheng, Liu, Tao, Li, Jie, Guo, Jianhua, Yuan, Zhiguo and Hu, Shihu (2022). Selective enrichment of comammox Nitrospira in a moving bed biofilm reactor with sufficient oxygen supply. Environmental Science and Technology, 56 (18), 13338-13346. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c03299

Selective enrichment of comammox Nitrospira in a moving bed biofilm reactor with sufficient oxygen supply

2022

Journal Article

Microtubular electrodes: an emerging electrode configuration for electrocatalysis, bioelectrochemical and water treatment applications

Rabiee, Hesamoddin, Ge, Lei, Hu, Shihu, Wang, Hao and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Microtubular electrodes: an emerging electrode configuration for electrocatalysis, bioelectrochemical and water treatment applications. Chemical Engineering Journal, 450 138476, 138476. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2022.138476

Microtubular electrodes: an emerging electrode configuration for electrocatalysis, bioelectrochemical and water treatment applications

2022

Journal Article

Achieving robust mainstream nitrite shunt at pilot-scale with integrated sidestream sludge treatment and step-feed

Duan, Haoran, Watts, Shane, Zheng, Min, Wang, Zhiyao, Zhao, Jing, Li, Huijuan, Liu, Peng, Dwyer, Jason, McPhee, Paul, Rattier, Maxime, Larsen, Eloise, Yuan, Zhiguo and Hu, Shihu (2022). Achieving robust mainstream nitrite shunt at pilot-scale with integrated sidestream sludge treatment and step-feed. Water Research, 223 119034, 119034. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.119034

Achieving robust mainstream nitrite shunt at pilot-scale with integrated sidestream sludge treatment and step-feed

2022

Journal Article

Understanding the effect of free nitrous acid on biofilms

Chislett, Mariella, Yu, Zhigang, Donose, Bogdan C., Guo, Jianhua and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Understanding the effect of free nitrous acid on biofilms. Environmental Science and Technology, 56 (16), 11625-11634. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c01156

Understanding the effect of free nitrous acid on biofilms

2022

Journal Article

Preparation of Nano-CeO2 by Impinging Stream-Rotating Packed Bed Reactor 撞击流-旋转填料床制备纳米CeO2

Wang, Dan, Yuan, Zhiguo, Liu, Youzhi, Liang, Yalu, Wang, Yuxia and Zhao, Jiahui (2022). Preparation of Nano-CeO2 by Impinging Stream-Rotating Packed Bed Reactor 撞击流-旋转填料床制备纳米CeO2. Zhongguo Xitu Xuebao/Journal of the Chinese Rare Earth Society, 40 (4), 616-623. doi: 10.11785/S1000-4343.20220408

Preparation of Nano-CeO2 by Impinging Stream-Rotating Packed Bed Reactor 撞击流-旋转填料床制备纳米CeO2

2022

Journal Article

Regulating the reaction zone of electrochemical CO2 reduction on gas-diffusion electrodes by distinctive hydrophilic-hydrophobic catalyst layers

Rabiee, Hesamoddin, Ge, Lei, Zhao, Jing, Zhang, Xueqin, Li, Mengran, Hu, Shihu, Smart, Simon, Rufford, Thomas E., Zhu, Zhonghua, Wang, Hao and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Regulating the reaction zone of electrochemical CO2 reduction on gas-diffusion electrodes by distinctive hydrophilic-hydrophobic catalyst layers. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 310 121362, 121362. doi: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2022.121362

Regulating the reaction zone of electrochemical CO2 reduction on gas-diffusion electrodes by distinctive hydrophilic-hydrophobic catalyst layers

2022

Journal Article

Determining factors for nitrite accumulation in an acidic nitrifying system: influent ammonium concentration, operational pH, and ammonia-oxidizing community

Meng, Jia, Hu, Zhetai, Wang, Zhiyao, Hu, Shihu, Liu, Yanchen, Guo, Hongguang, Li, Jianzheng, Yuan, Zhiguo and Zheng, Min (2022). Determining factors for nitrite accumulation in an acidic nitrifying system: influent ammonium concentration, operational pH, and ammonia-oxidizing community. Environmental Science & Technology, 56 (16), 11578-11588. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c07522

Determining factors for nitrite accumulation in an acidic nitrifying system: influent ammonium concentration, operational pH, and ammonia-oxidizing community

2022

Journal Article

Recovery of ammonium nitrate solution from urine wastewater via novel free nitrous acid (FNA)-mediated two-stage processes

Zuo, Zhiqiang, Liu, Tao, Zheng, Min, Xing, Yaxin, Ren, Daheng, Li, He, Yang, Shaolin, Liu, Yanchen, Yuan, Zhiguo and Huang, Xia (2022). Recovery of ammonium nitrate solution from urine wastewater via novel free nitrous acid (FNA)-mediated two-stage processes. Chemical Engineering Journal, 440 135826, 135826. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2022.135826

Recovery of ammonium nitrate solution from urine wastewater via novel free nitrous acid (FNA)-mediated two-stage processes

2022

Journal Article

Bio-reduced graphene oxide on hollow fibers as gas-diffusible anodes for enhancing bioelectrochemical methane oxidation

Zhang, Xueqin, Rabiee, Hesamoddin, Ni, Gaofeng, Frank, Joshua, Zhao, Jing, Cai, Chen, Virdis, Bernardino, Yuan, Zhiguo and Hu, Shihu (2022). Bio-reduced graphene oxide on hollow fibers as gas-diffusible anodes for enhancing bioelectrochemical methane oxidation. Chemical Engineering Journal, 440 135811, 135811. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2022.135811

Bio-reduced graphene oxide on hollow fibers as gas-diffusible anodes for enhancing bioelectrochemical methane oxidation

2022

Journal Article

Reactive nitrogen species from free nitrous acid (FNA) cause cell lysis

Chislett, Mariella, Guo, Jianhua, Bond, Philip L., Wang, Yue, Donose, Bogdan C. and Yuan, Zhiguo (2022). Reactive nitrogen species from free nitrous acid (FNA) cause cell lysis. Water Research, 217 118401, 118401. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118401

Reactive nitrogen species from free nitrous acid (FNA) cause cell lysis

2022

Journal Article

A 20-year journey of partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A): from sidestream toward mainstream

Wang, Zhiyao, Zheng, Min, Duan, Haoran, Yuan, Zhiguo and Hu, Shihu (2022). A 20-year journey of partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A): from sidestream toward mainstream. Environmental Science and Technology, 56 (12), 7522-7531. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c06107

A 20-year journey of partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A): from sidestream toward mainstream

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

    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

  • Doctor Philosophy

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

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Xueqin Zhang, Dr Bernardino Virdis

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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