Wen Zhou

Wen Zhou

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Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering

  • PhD, Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
  • BS, Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University

Biography

My research is focused on using and advancing computational systems biology and engineering to better understand and further improve complex chemical and biochemical processes to address problems related to bioenergy production and environment protection. The complexity of processes involved in these problems necessitates systematical approaches. The ultimate goal is to generate computational tools that can be used to aid the analysis and design of corresponding biochemical systems.  

Bioenergy production from lignocellulosic biomass

Lignocellulosic biomass has long been recognized as a renewable carbohydrate source for human energy use and is available in large quantities. The success of converting lignocellulosic biomass into biofuel cost-efficiently will not only solve the current energy demand crisis, but will also create a clean sustainable energy cycle that offers environmental advantages unequalled by other feedstocks or fuels. Processing of lignocellulosic biomass is estimated to be the key factor impeding current establishment of a cellulosic biofuel industry, which is achieved mainly in two ways: 1) thermochemical approach and 2) biochemical approach. My interests are focused on the biochemical approach, and I am also interested in its possible coupling with the thermochemical approach.

Research Interests

  • Systems Engineering and Biology
  • Biofuel production
  • Bioinformatics

Publications

  • Liu, B*; Zhou, W*; Li, G; Xu, Y. (* equal contribution) Identification of cis-regulatory elements in prokaryotes through an integrative approach. (Submitted)
  • Zhou, W.; Xu, Y. and Schuttler, HB. Cellulose hydrolysis in evolving substrate morphologies III: time scale analysis. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 107, 224-234, 2010.
  • Zhou, W.; Hao, Z.; Xu, Y. and Schuttler, HB. Cellulose hydrolysis in evolving substrate morphologies II: numerical results and analysis. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 104, 275-289, 2009.
  • Zhou, W.; Schuttler, HB.; Hao, Z. and Xu, Y. Cellulose hydrolysis in evolving substrate morphologies I: a general modeling formalism. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 104, 261-274, 2009.
  • Zhou, W. and Manousiouthakis, V. I. Automating the AR Construction for Non-isothermal Reactor Networks. Computers and Chemical Engineering. 33, 176-180, 2009.
  • Zhou, W. and Manousiouthakis, V. I. Global capital/total annualized cost minimization of reactor network. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. 47, 3771-3782, 2008.
  • Zhou, W. and Manousiouthakis, V. I. On dimensionality of Attainable Region construction for isothermal reactor networks. Computers and Chemical Engineering. 32, 439-450, 2008.