Currently an assistant professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Dr. Xiao Zhang has more than 15 years of research experience in the field of pulping, papermaking and forest biorefinery. He will bring that knowledge to the feedstock development portion of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance project.
Recently, Dr. Zhang led a research team at FPInnovations Paprican Division to work on developing novel products from forest biomass. The results have led to the implementation of wood prehydrolysis technology in a pulp mill in Canada and a number of pilot trials to convert mill residues to high value bioproducts. His work has greatly enhanced the understanding of the technical and economic feasibility of wood bioconversion processes and generated a significant amount of valuable process information. Dr. Zhang’s long-term goal is to develop innovative approaches to convert renewable biomass feedstock into value-added products to improve the economics of biomass-to advanced biofuel production.
Before joining WSU, Dr. Zhang was senior scientist at FPInnovations Paprican Division in Montreal, Canada, and a lecturer in the Chemical Engineering Department of Nanjing Forestry University in China.
He earned his Ph.D. in forestry at the University of British Columbia in 2001.