Professor
Director, UBC Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) (2019-2025)
Associate Director, UBC Clean Energy Research Centre (CERC) (2009-2019)
Associate Head, UBC Chemical and Biological Engineering (2006-2009)
Office: CHBE 411
Email: tony.bi@ubc.ca
Research Summary
Particle Technology, Fluidization and Multiphase Reactors, Clean and Renewable Energy Systems, Green Engineering and Sustainability, Life Cycle Analysis
Education
University of British Columbia, 1994, Ph.D.
Tsinghua University, China, 1988, M.A.Sc.
Tsinghua University, China, 1985, B.A.Sc.
Research interests + projects
Green Engineering, Clean Energy and Sustainability:
Green Engineering is the design, commercialization and use of processes and products, which are feasible and economical while minimizing impacts on ecosystems over the full life cycle. Traditional engineering focuses on the technical and economic aspects of a technology. In contrast, Green Engineering extends our research and development beyond product manufacturing to include the ecological impacts of a process/product or a technology on the renewability and sustainability of the raw materials, the toxicity and health risks of the product use, and the recycleability and degradability at the end of the product use. We are developing environmental systems and life cycle analysis tools to model and evaluate biomass energy systems, including Canadian wood pellets, BC forest residues, animal wastes, agricultural residues and solid digestate and plastic/textile wastes, as well as integrated impact assessments of biomass combustion, gasification, torrefaction, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion processes. At the same time, we are developing novel thermo-chemical-catalytic technologies to convert biomass residues to bio-fuels, biochar, torrefied pellets and renewable natural gas, with a focus on novel fluidized bed reactor design and low-cost catalyst development. Both clean energy and green engineering are key areas of my research and teaching.
Fluidization and Multiphase Reactors:
Fluidized bed reactors have been widely used in industrial processes for both catalytic and non-catalytic reactions, fuel combustion, particulate drying, powder coating and granulation, electrolysis etc. I started my research career on fluidization in 1985, and have conducted research over many areas, including hydrodynamics, flow patterns and flow regimes, heat transfer, mass transfer, reactor performance testing, modeling and simulation, scaling and scale-up, commercial reactor troubleshooting etc. covering gas-solids, liquid-solids, gas-liquid-solids bubbling, turbulent and circulating fluidized beds. My current fluidization research is focused on understanding, monitoring and mitigating electrostatic charges on dielectric particles in gas-solids fluidized beds and novel fluidized bed reactors for biomass thermo-chemical-catalytic conversion.
Awards and honours
International Fluidization Achievement Award, 2024
Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China (CIESC) Engineering Thermochemistry Award, 2023
BC Bioenergy Sector Award, 2022
CSChE Industrial Design and Practice Award, 2020
PSRI Lectureship Award, AIChE, 2012
Killam Senior Faculty Research Fellowship, UBC, 2011
Scholarly and professional activities + affiliations
Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering
Member, Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (APEGBC)
Member, Canadian Society of Chemical Engineers (CSChE)
Senior Member, American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AIChE)
Convenor, International Circulating Fluidized Bed Conferences
President, World Society of Engineering Thermochemistry (WSETC)
Co-Director, China-Canada Bioenergy Network (C-CBN)
Director, Biorefining Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC)
Full publications link
Selected publications + presentations
H Zhu, H Zhou, A Lau, S Baldwin, L Li, J Saddler, X Bi, Circular bioeconomy through a closed-loop anaerobic digestion-pyrolysis biorefinery: techno-economic, environmental and policy perspectives. Bioresource Technology, 134835, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2026.134835
Q An, L Fu, X Bi, Intrinsic kinetics study of microwave catalytic pyrolysis of cellulosic biomass using a novel microwave thermogravimetric analyzer. Chemical Engineering Journal, 171400, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.171400
H Yun, T Wu, X Bi, T Tan, Feasibility and Challenges of Low-Carbon Transition of China’s Power System. Environmental Science & Technology 59 (32), 16900-16912, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c03894
J Li, ED Jia, L Niu, X Bi, Propagation and attenuation of surface waves and pressure waves in a fluidized bed with a vibrating plate. Powder Technology 454, 120714, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2025.120714
P Yang, J Ma, K Yang, D Zhang, P Zhu, W Chen, X Bi, F Jiang, Phase Diagram‐Guided Molten Salt Engineering of Biocarbon Pores at Low Temperatures. Small 21 (25), 2501162. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202501162