Dr. Bo Hu's research group focuses on the development of bioprocessing technologies to convert agricultural residue and waste materials to value-added chemicals and biofuels. Research areas include biomass utilization, industrial fermentation, waste management and treatment. The research team has established several new cultivation methods, such as solid state cultivation, pelletized cultivation of fungi and algae, and cultivation of lichen biofilm. We have adopted several advanced technologies to assist our research; for example, 16s rRNA microbial community analysis using high-throughput pyrosequencing and fungal identification through internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Several of these platform technologies are notably unique and innovative and have received international attentions in the field. Over the past years, we received funding for the following research topics:
- Phytoremediation of de-icing road salt
- Phosphorus removal from waste and animal feed by microbial or electrochemical approaches,
- Phosphorus and sulfur removal and recycling by microbial, chemical, and electrochemical approaches
- Develop biological conversion processes to improve the value of animal feeds
