Excited to share our new publication, "Techno-economic analysis of protein concentrates production from brewer's spent grains." Led by former student Mico Li and in collaboration with Dr. Yixiang Xu's group at USDA-ARS in Albany, this study evaluates the economic feasibility of producing protein concentrates from brewer's spent grains (BSG) using alkaline, enzymatic, and acidic extraction processes, and highlights an exciting opportunity to transform a major brewery byproduct into a valuable and sustainable food ingredient.

Congratulations to Fujunzhu! Her manuscript titled "Linking comonomer composition to structural, thermal, and mechanical properties of bioderived polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)" has been accepted by Food and Bioproducts Processing. This work was completed in collaboration with Dr. Young-Teck Kim's group and Dr. Drew Wang's group at Virginia Tech, along with researchers from Dongsung Chemical Inc. Thank you all for your contributions!

Congratulations to Journey on receiving the prestigious USDA Predoctoral Fellowship to develop functional dietary fibers from brewer's spent grain!

Haibo is promoted to full professor at Virginia Tech.

Celebrating Zane and Dacia for their life milestones. Zane passed his Ph.D. final defense and Dacia passed her M.S. final defense. I am so proud of them!

Say goodbye to Dr. Mico Li. Dr. Li has been with us for over 4 years, she is an incredible researcher and team member. BIG THANK YOU for everything you've done for the Food Processing Lab. Wish you all the best for your next adventure!

Ruoshi's paper titled "Reducing Heat Without Impacting Quality: Optimizing Trypsin Inhibitor Inactivation Process in Low-TI Soybean" is published in Foods. This paper is a product from a joyful collaboration with Dr. Bo Zhang's group at Virginia Tech. Our former group members, Troy Walker and Patrick Reilly, are co-authors of this study.

Group gathering to celebrate the survival of Spring 2025. Everyone is working hard and deserves a moment of celebration.

Feeling proud to hood two PhDs: Dr. Daisy Yu and Dr. Mico Li.

Dr. Qing Jin's paper titled "Sugar Production from food waste: process design and optimization, techno-economic analysis, and life cycle assessment" is published in Bioresource Technology. This paper is unique as it analyzed sugar production from food waste from lab-scale process optimization, industrial-scale techno-economic analysis, and system-level life cycle assessment.

Mico Li passed her final PhD defense. Mico has been working tirelessly on her dissertation project to convert switchgrass into functional hard carbon and emulsifying ingredient. Congratulations and well deserved.

Congratulations to Mico, Zane, and Shuo. Mico won 1st place in oral research presentation, Zane won 3rd place in poster research presentation, and Shuo won 3rd place in 1st-year graduate student research at the 2025 Virginia Tech Food Science Research Symposium.

Xuanbo's paper titled "Techno-economic analysis and life cycle analysis of renewable natural gas production from brewery wastewater via ex-situ methanation processes" is published in Bioresource Technology. This is a product of joyful collaboration with the DOE Argonne National Lab. Dr. Tuhin Poddar from Argonne National Lab is a co-first author.

Xuanbo's paper titled "Techno-economic analysis of producing antioxidant peptides from whole sorghum stillage" is published in Food and Bioproducts Processing. This is a product of collaboration with Dr. Yonghui Li's group at Kansas State University.

Zane's very first paper titled "Visible Light-Activated Dye-sensitized TiO2 Antibacterial Film: A Novel Strategy for Enhancing Food Safety and Quality" is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. Dr. John Wu (our previous member) is a co-first author, and Mico is a co-author of the paper.

Fujunzhu's invited review paper titled "Physical Cell Disruption Technologies for Intracellular Compound Extraction from Microorganisms" is published in Processes. Congratulations.

Group party at Claytor Lake to start the Fall Semester and welcome our new group member: Dacia Ringo.

Congratulations to Mico for winning both the Poster AND Oral presentation awards at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). These are significant student research awards across the entire agricultural and biological engineering society.

Group lunch together to celebrate surviving the summer heat wave. Zane and Mico are not in the photo. We have a new group member, Ruoshi, joining us as a Ph.D. student.

Mico's paper titled "Hydrothermally Assisted Conversion of Switchgrass into Hard Carbon as Anode Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries" is published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Zane, Dr. Qing Jin, and Dr. Daisy Yu contributed significantly to this study and are coauthors of the paper. Congratulations.

Patrick Reilly and Troy Walker won 2nd place in the Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (undergraduate category). Congratulations. They presented their work on soybean meal production and anti-nutrient compound inactivation.

Dr. Qing Jin's paper titled "Combined dilute alkali and milling process enhances the functionality and gut microbiota fermentability of insoluble corn fiber" is accepted by Food Chemistry. Dr. Yiming Feng, Dr. Daisy Yu, and Ronnie contributed significantly to this study and are coauthors of the paper. Congratulations.

A farewell party for Dr. Aili Wang for her short tenure as a visiting scholar in the Food Processing Lab. Thank you, Dr. Wang, for being with us and for your hard work on the packaging project. We are so happy to have had you with us.

Note: Dr. Xuanbo Liu is a pro at playing pool.

Say goodbye to Dr. Xueqian Su. Dr. Su is one of our best scientists; she moves to industry as a Senior Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. THANK YOU for your hard work and best wishes for your next adventure!

Jordan Allen passed her MS defense. Jordan has been working tirelessly on her plant-based protein project: production of protein concentrates from brewer's spent grain, while also supporting the USDA-funded edamame project. Big congratulations, Jordan! THANK YOU for everything you've done for us; we are fortunate to have had you with us for the past two years.

Jordan will be starting her career in the food industry as a Senior Chemist at Ingredion Inc., supporting research projects related to plant-based protein ingredients.

Zane won 3rd place in the Student Research Competition (Food Packaging Division) at the 2023 IFT International Meeting. Congratulations!

Happy hour at Rising Silo Brewery to welcome Dr. Xuanbo Liu and Patrick Reilly to the Food Processing Lab.

Zane won 3rd place in the 2023 Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (1st year Graduate Student Research Category). He presented his research on photocatalytic antimicrobial packaging.

Eva and Troy won 2nd place in Undergraduate Student Research. They presented their research on the lab-scale process of soybean seed to produce soymeal.

Congratulations to all!

Daisy Yu passed her final PhD defense. Daisy has been a key person for the multi-million-dollar edamame project, working tirelessly to complete her assigned work while also supporting others'. Big congratulations, Dr. Yu, and thank you for your great contribution to our group over the past six years!

Daisy moves to a promising start-up cultured-meat company (Finless Foods) as a scientist and continues growing in her career. Best wishes for your next adventure!

Goodbye and good luck to Drs. Qing Jin and John Wu. Dr. Qing Jin spent over six years with us (as a PhD student and as a postdoc research associate) and contributed tremendously to multiple projects. She will move to the University of Maine as an Assistant Professor. Dr. John Wu has been with us for four years as a research associate and is an incredible independent researcher and team player in our group. Dr. Wu moves onto the private sector (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.) as a scientist. Both of them are role models for the Food Processing Lab at Virginia Tech.

Thank you for being with us and best wishes for your future careers!

The Food Processing Lab members presented four poster presentations and one oral presentation at the 2022 IFT Meeting. We were very happy to meet our lab alumna Dr. Yiming Feng, currently an assistant professor at Cal Poly, at the meeting.

Katy's manuscript titled "Lactic acid production from food waste hydrolysate by Lactobacillus pentosus: focus on nitrogen supplementation, initial sugar concentration, pH, and fed-batch fermentation" was accepted by the Journal of Food Science. This manuscript is an outcome of a fruitful collaboration with Dr. Wencai Zhang in the Mining and Minerals Engineering Department at VT.

Daisy won 3rd place in the 2022 Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (Graduate Student Research Category). She presented her research on converting edamame shells into soluble dietary fiber.

Daisy was also selected for the FST Departmental Extra Mile Award, recognizing her outstanding leadership and service in Food Science. Congratulations!

Andrea won 2nd place in the 2022 Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (First-Year Graduate Student Category). Andrea presented her novel research on photocatalytic food packaging. Congratulations!

Daisy's manuscript titled "Conversion of Food Waste into 2,3-Butanediol via Thermophilic Fermentation: Effects of Carbohydrate Content and Nutrient Supplementation" was accepted by Foods. Lots of our members (Josh, Nick, Qing, Sophie, and Yanhong) contributed to this work and are coauthors of the manuscript. Congratulations to all.

VT News highlighted our research to convert agricultural and food wastes into battery materials. This is a joyful collaborative project with Dr. Lin's group in the Chemistry Department at VT. Read the article

Ellen and Josh's manuscript titled "Co-Production of Protein Hydrolysates and 2,3-Butanediol from Brewer's Spent Grain" was accepted by ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Qing and Jian also contributed to this manuscript and are coauthors. Congratulations to all.

Congratulations and best wishes to Ellen He for being a Postdoc Research Associate at Cornell University after four years with us as a Ph.D. student.

Congratulations and best wishes to Dr. Joshua O'Hair for being an Assistant Professor at Tennessee State University.

Farewell party for Dr. Josh O'Hair and Katy Lobeda at Claytor Lake. Dr. Joshua O'Hair is a USDA Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient and has been with us for two years. He conducted outstanding research converting food waste into renewable chemicals using a novel bacterial strain isolated from the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. Josh moves to Tennessee State University as an Assistant Professor.

Katy is one of our best undergraduate researchers. She worked on an EPA-funded research project to convert food waste into lactic acid and published a research paper in the Journal of Food Science as lead author. Katy moves to the private sector to continue her career.

Best luck to them!

Haibo is promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure. Read more

Congratulations to Yiming and Daisy (co-first authors) for their manuscript titled "Complexing hemp seed protein with pectin for improved emulsion stability" accepted by the Journal of Food Science. Qing and Jian are coauthors of this manuscript.

Congratulations to Qing Jin for being selected as the Outstanding Ph.D. Student for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. Read more

Congratulations to Dajun Yu for winning 3rd place in the 2021 Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (Graduate research category).

Congratulations to Katy Lobeda for winning 1st place in the 2021 Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (Undergraduate research category).

Ellen and Haibo had a fun interview with the American Chemical Society (ACS) to talk about our spent grain research. Watch the interview

Qing and Ellen's research related to the Water Interface IGEP program is reported by public media. Read the article

Congratulations to Qing for her manuscript entitled "Techno-economic analysis of a grape pomace biorefinery: production of oil, polyphenols, and biochar" accepted for publication in Food and Bioproducts Processing.

Daisy's manuscript entitled "Chemical compositions of edamame genotypes grown in different locations in the US" was accepted for publication in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. Qing is a coauthor of this manuscript. Congratulations.

Congratulations to Ellen for her manuscript entitled "Protein production from brewer's spent grain via wet fractionation: process optimization and techno-economic analysis" accepted for publication in Food and Bioproducts Processing.

Congratulations and best wishes to Dr. Yiming Feng for being an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo.

Josh and Qing's article titled "Non-Sterile Fermentation of Food Waste using Thermophilic and Alkaliphilic Bacillus Licheniformis YNP5-TSU for 2,3-Butanediol Production" has been accepted for publication in Waste Management. Daisy, Dr. Wang, and Dr. Wu all contributed to this work and are co-authors of this article.

Congratulations to Qing Jin for passing her Ph.D. final defense! Great work, Dr. Jin.

Josh's article titled "Thermophilic and alkaliphilic Bacillus licheniformis YNP5-TSU as an ideal candidate for 2,3-butanediol production" has been accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. Qing, Dajun, and Nick all contributed to this work and are co-authors.

Yiming's review article titled "Upgrading agricultural biomass for sustainable energy storage: bioprocessing, electrochemistry, mechanism" has been accepted for publication in Energy Storage Materials.

Qing's paper titled "High acetone-butanol-ethanol production from food waste by recombinant Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum in batch and continuous immobilized-cell fermentation" has been accepted for publication in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. This is our group's first paper using a genetically modified bacteria to ferment food wastes. Nick, Dr. Wu, and Dr. Wang all contributed to this work and are co-authors.

Congratulations to Katy Lobeda for winning 2nd place in the 2020 Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (Undergraduate research category).

Congratulations to Qing Jin for winning 1st place in the 2020 Department of Food Science and Technology Student Research Competition (Graduate research category).

Ellen's paper entitled "Protein-rich product recovered from brewer's spent grain can partially replace fishmeal in diets of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei" has been accepted for publication in Aquaculture Research. It is a product of joyful collaboration with Drs. Kuhn, O'Keefe, Ogejo, and Fernandez. Dr. Hengjian Wang, Dajun, and Nick are coauthors of the paper.

Nick's paper entitled "Compositional variability of food wastes and its effects on acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation" has been accepted for publication in Waste Management. It is a paper investigating the high variation of food waste composition and fermentation, probably the main hurdle for food waste valorization. Dajun, Qing, and Dr. Hengjian Wang are co-authors.

Qing's manuscript entitled "Grape pomace and its secondary waste management: biochar production for a broad range of lead (Pb) removal from water" has been accepted for publication in Environmental Research. This paper is the outcome of collaboration with Dr. Jason He's group at Washington University in St. Louis. Yiming is a co-author of this paper.

Prof. Haibo Huang becomes an affiliate professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.

Haibo and Qing's book chapter entitled "Industrial Waste Valorization: Applications to the Case of Liquid Biofuels" is published in the textbook Green Energy to Sustainability.

Qing's paper entitled "Compositional characterization of different industrial white and red grape pomaces in Virginia and the potential valorization of the major components" has been accepted by Foods. Josh and Jeff are co-authors on this paper.

Yiming and Lei's (from Lin's lab) paper titled "Chemical-enzymatic fractionation to unlock the potential of biomass-derived carbon materials for sodium ion batteries" has been accepted by the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Yanhong and Qing are co-authors. This paper is an outcome of joyful collaboration with Dr. Feng Lin's lab.

Dr. Haibo Huang's short article on food waste treatment is published in the special issue of Resource Magazine.

Dr. Haibo Huang collaborates on the paper "Enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of corn stover liquor from magnesium oxide pretreatment without detoxification" published in Industrial Crops and Products.

Congratulations to Yanhong He for winning 1st place in the student poster presentation award at the 2019 S1041 Bioprocessing Engineering Meeting in Golden, CO.

Congratulations to Dajun Yu for winning the Best Student Oral Presentation award at the 2019 ASABE Meeting in Boston, MA.

Sophie Pinton won 1st place at the 7th Department Annual Poster Competition (undergraduate category). Congratulations!

Congratulations to Qing Jin for being elected as one of the winners of the 2018–2019 Ph.D. Research Award from the Virginia Tech Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, and the VT Office of Research and Innovation.

Dr. Huang collaborates on a $750,000 USDA Higher Education Challenge (HEC) project to strengthen food science majors' understanding of science and engineering by replacing lecture-centered instruction with active-learning strategies. University of Maine is the leading institute (PI: Dr. Balunkeswar Nayak); Virginia Tech, Washington State University, University of Kentucky, Iowa State University, and Horizon Research, Inc. are collaborating institutes.

Qing Jin's paper titled "Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation of soluble and hydrolyzed sugars in apple pomace by Clostridium beijerinckii P260" was accepted by Fuel.

Dr. Haibo Huang collaborates on the paper "The Costs of Sugar Production from Different Feedstocks and Processing Technologies" published in Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining.

Qing Jin's paper titled "An integrated approach for the valorization of red grape pomace: production of oil, polyphenols, and acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE)" was accepted by ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering.

Dr. Huang collaborates on a $2 million Department of Energy project to improve diesel fuel efficiency. The project is led by Dr. Yi Wang at Auburn University, with collaboration from researchers at Virginia Tech, Cornell University, the University of Alabama, and corporate partners Microvi Biotech, Inc. and EcoEngineers.

We welcome Dr. Yiming Feng and Sophie Pinton to the Food Processing Lab.

Congrats to Daisy for passing her Master's defense! Daisy will stay with us for her Ph.D. adventure. Group party to celebrate.

The Food Processing Lab members attended the 2018 IFT Annual Meeting with other Hokies. Qing, Ellen, Daisy, and Nick presented their research projects. A fun trip for all of us.

Daisy Yu was selected as a finalist at the IFT 2018 student research paper poster competition with her project titled "Ultrasound-assisted enzymatic extraction of proteins from brewer's spent grain".

Nick Poe was selected as a finalist at the IFT 2018 student research paper poster competition with his project titled "Production of acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) with Clostridium beijerinckii using fruit-based food wastes as feedstock".

Qing Jin and Daisy Yu won 1st and 2nd place at the 6th Department Annual Poster Competition. Job well done. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Nick Poe for winning the FST Departmental Outstanding First Year Graduate Student Award.

Group lunch at Lefty's to welcome Josh O'Hair.

Qing, Nick, and Haibo's paper "Integrated processing of plant-derived waste to produce value-added products based on the biorefinery concept" has been accepted by Trends in Food Science & Technology for publication.

Dr. Huang became a member of the Water Interface IGEP Program at Virginia Tech.

Together with Dr. Ashok Damle, Dr. Huang received funding from the National Science Foundation to convert food waste to value-added biochemicals.

Congratulations to Qing Jin for finishing her first committee meeting to present her research proposal.

Together with Dr. Suping Zhou at Tennessee State University, Dr. Huang (PI) received funding from ICTAS (Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science) to develop consolidated bioprocesses to convert biomass to biofuels.

Together with Drs. Zhang (PI) and Kuhn, Dr. Huang (co-PI) received funding from the United Soybean Board to develop, process, and utilize new traits of soybeans.

Qing Jin and Haibo Huang attended the 2017 ASABE International Meeting in Spokane, WA. Qing did her poster presentation titled "Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) production from apple pomace by anaerobic fermentation".

Congratulations to Daisy Yu for finishing her first committee meeting to present her research proposal.

Dr. Huang with Dr. Ogejo in the Biological Systems Engineering Department received a grant from the Virginia Agricultural Council to fractionate brewer's spent grain. Thank you, Virginia Agricultural Council.

Our paper titled "Evaluation of the Quantity and Composition of Sugars and Lipid in the Juice and Bagasse of Lipid Producing Sugarcane" was accepted for publication in Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology. This paper was reported by Biodiesel Magazine, Feedstuff, The Science Times, New Atlas, and Physics.org.

Our paper titled "Pretreated corn stover with white rot fungi to improve its nutritive value as cattle feed" was accepted for publication in Transactions of the ASABE.

Our book chapter titled "Industrial food waste valorisation: applications to the case of liquid fuels" was accepted for publication in Green Energy Sustainability: Strategies for Global Industries.

Dr. Huang with Dr. Kuhn and Dr. O'Keefe received the John Lee Pratt Grant to develop processes to separate proteins as fish feed. Thank you, Pratt Foundation!

Dr. Huang's techno-economic paper titled "Techno-Economic Analysis of Biodiesel and Ethanol Production from Lipid-Producing Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum" was accepted by Industrial Biotechnology. This paper was reported by Biomass Magazine, Ethanol Producer Magazine, and Physics.org.

Dr. Huang received the Mentoring for Pre-Tenure Faculty Grant from the Office of the Provost at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Haibo Huang's research paper "Techno-economic analysis of biodiesel and ethanol co-production from lipid-producing sugarcane" was accepted by Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining. This paper was reported by ScienceDaily, Science Newsline, Globalspec, and CABI.