Virginia Tech’s Effluential Hokies team made of Cyrus Li, Yitao Li, Zhangtong Liao, Xueyao Zhang, and Mingxi Wang from Dr. Zhiwu Wang’s lab along with Francis Robinson and Will Dawson from Dr. Amy Prudent’s lab won the 2nd place award in the Wastewater Category with their exceptional project focused on the Chincoteague WWTP Improvements in Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) International Student Design Competition at Chicago on Sep 28, 2025. $1,000 was awarded. The Effluential Hokies team was coached by Dr. John Novak and Dr. Yewei Sun.

Dr. Zhiwu (Dew) Wang received the Saied and Parynaz Mostaghimi Excellence in Applied Research Award. As a director of the Center for Applied Water Research and Innovation, Dr. Wang has pioneered processes that reduce energy use and chemical demand in wastewater treatment, saving utilities money and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. His team has also developed microbes that convert food waste into biodegradable plastics, advancing a circular economy. 

Media source: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/09/cals-2025-faculty-staff-awards.html

Hi Folks,
 
I am thrilled to share some exciting news from the 2025 Virginia Water Environment Association (VWEA) Student Design Competition held last week! The Effluential Hokies team, representing Virginia Tech, with students from both our Civil and Environmental Engineering, and our Biological Systems Engineering program, claimed a first-place victory in the Wastewater Category with their exceptional project focused on the Chincoteague WWTP Improvements.

Virginia Tech’s Effluential Hokies team made of Cyrus Li, Yitao Li, Zhangtong Liao, Xueyao Zhang, and Mingxi Wang from Dr. Zhiwu Wang’s lab along with Francis Robinson and Will Dawson from Dr. Amy Prudent’s lab. The team was coached by Dr. John Novak.

By earning first place at the state level, the Viriginia Tech team has now earned the honor of representing Virginia at the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) International Student Design Competition this October in Chicago. This international competition, held during WEFTEC—one of the world’s largest water quality conferences—brings together top student teams from across the globe to showcase their innovative solutions to pressing water challenges.

I wanted to make sure you saw the LinkedIn Post from VWEA Student Design – LinkedIn Post  and were aware of our Hokie winners from the competition.  Here’s a list of our students who are working under Professor Zhiwu Wang and Professor John Novak, who did an excellent job mentoring these students this past semester.

Students that make up the Effluential Hokie’s Wastewater Design Competition Team:
Cyrus Li, Zhangtong Liao, Will Dawson, Xueyao Zhang, Yitao Li, Francis Robinson, and Mingxi Wang

Ms. Elizabeth Merin, Engineer III, EIT, ENV SP in the Wastewater Design and Construction Division, Capital Facilities, DPWES, County of Fairfax.

Virginia’s land grant universities were established to research and address local challenges and disseminate that information to the public. Virginia Tech and Virginia State University are doing just that as they conduct critical research for the next generation of farmers and consumers with cost-saving and environment-protecting solutions.

Farming Bioplastics

At Virginia Tech, Zhiwu “Drew” Wang, Ph.D., associate professor and Extension specialist, conducts groundbreaking research to convert food waste into items people use every day. According to Wang, nearly 40% of food produced in the U.S. ends up in landfills. This results not only in greenhouse gas emissions but also carries an annual $165 billion in economic loss from the food, water, energy and chemicals spent in the food supply chain. Additionally, 65% of plastic also finds its way to landfills.

“In the landfill, food converts into greenhouse gas, and plastic left to break down over time becomes microplastics,” Wang says. “These plastics will occupy the landfills for hundreds of years, and the microplastics released along with landfill leachate will eventually harm the environment.”

Wang and a team of researchers at Virginia Tech are conducting a three-year pilot study on bioplastics made from food waste. To create bioplastic, researchers utilize microorganisms to convert food waste into biopolymers – organic polymers produced by living organisms made from biomolecules like carbohydrates, proteins and fats – which then get processed into bioplastics.

“I farm lots of bacteria to eat the food waste, and the bacteria grows lots of ‘fat,’ namely biopolymers,” Wang says. “Next, I open the bacteria cell walls, and they release their fat and then I process or refine that bacterial fat into bioplastics.”

The outcome of this innovative project will be a process that delivers economically feasible bioplastic products made from food waste.

See more: Virginia’s Land Grant Universities Conduct Critical Research for the Next Generation

Extraordinary amounts of energy, water, and capital are put into food systems. However, anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of the food that is produced ends up in landfills in the United States.

What if there was a way to convert it into something we use every day?

Researchers in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are doing just that by developing biodegradable bioplastics from food waste to give those materials a new – and useful – life.

“By creating cost-effective bioplastics that naturally decompose, we can reduce plastic pollution on land and in oceans and address significant issues such as greenhouse gas emissions and economic losses associated with food waste,” said lead researcher Zhiwu “Drew” Wang, associate professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering and director of the Center for Applied Water Research and Innovation.

The project tackles the challenge of oceanic plastic pollution that is becoming even more prevalent with microplastics affecting nearly 88 percent of all marine species, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Because they can quickly biodegrade in sea water, the Virginia Tech bioplastics have the potential to reduce the effect of pollution on marine life across the globe.

The first-of-its kind pilot project will develop and demonstrate an affordable modular bioprocessing system to produce biodegradable bioplastics from food waste.

Researchers will harness microorganisms to convert food waste into fats, which are then processed into bioplastics. This process, akin to fermentation in microbreweries, ensures that the produced bioplastics can be easily composted, mitigating marine pollution caused by microplastics. The project aims to demonstrate the feasibility and scalability of this bioprocessing system on both national and global levels.

“By creating environmentally sustainable plastics, we hope to benefit people, companies, waste management systems, and communities worldwide,” said Wang, a researcher from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering.

Collaborating with other experts at Virginia Tech, as well as both undergraduate and graduate students, including Haibo Huang in the Department of Food Science and Technology and Young Kim in the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, the team focuses on the purification of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and the creation of high-value bioplastic products.

“There are many the ways to generally improve sustainability in the world,” Kim said. “There are two primary methods right now. One is to use more recycling and recyclable material. The other way is to use biodegradable material. Using bioplastic is a viable option to solve our increased plastic pollution. Our approach is to improve the sustainability using biodegradable option.”

These biodegradable products include home compostable packaging, which has become increasingly popular.

Now more than a year in, this project involves student researchers who are hoping to contribute to more sustainable packaging for our world.

“Our first step is to make single-layer film to see if it can be utilized as an actual product,” said Chenxi Cao, a senior in packaging and system design. “If it has good oxygen and water vapor barriers and other properties, we can move to the next step. We aim to replace traditional coated paper products with PHA. Current paper products are often coated with polyethylene or polyactic acid, which are not fully degradable. PHA is fully biodegradable in nature, even in a backyard environment.”

Polyethylene or polyactic acid coatings are often found on single-use plastics, which can include disposable coffee mugs, films covering food, or even the ice cream cups enjoyed on a hot summer day.

For Chloe Taylor, a senior in sustainable biomaterials, joining the project has been a highlight of her college career.

“It inspired me to pursue graduate studies because traditional plastics are unsustainable,” Taylor said. “We aim to create bioplastics that are viable alternatives and can be used in everyday products without harming the environment.”

A $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding this applied research.

See more: Virginia Tech researchers work to create biodegradable bioplastics from food waste

This award recognizes one meritorious paper from each month’s issue, designating it as a high impact article of significant interest.

Luo H., Sun Y., Taylor M., Nguyen C., Strawn M., Broderick T., Wang Z.W. (2021) Impacts of aluminum- and iron-based coagulants on municipal sludge anaerobic digestibility, dewaterability, and odor emission, Water Environment Research,  94(1), e1684 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/wer.1684

Open 2021 Annual Report here

ABSTRACT: Although aluminum- and iron-based chemicals have been broadly used as the two most common types of coagulants for wastewater treatment, their impacts on the performance of downstream sludge management can be quite different and have not been well understood. This work reviewed and analyzed their similarities and differences in the context of the anaerobic digestion performance, dewaterability of digested sludge, and odor emission from dewatered biosolids. In short, iron-based coagulants tend to show less negative impact than aluminum-based coagulants. This can be attributed to the reduction of ferric to ferrous ions in the course of anaerobic digestion, which leads to a suite of changes in protein bioavailability, alkalinity and hydrogen sulfide levels, and in turn the sludge dewaterability and odor potential. Whether these observations still hold true in the context of thermally hydrolyzed sludge management remains to be studied.

An Z., Angelotti B., Bott C.B., Brooks M., and Wang Z.W. (2021) Coupling a continuous upflow selector with feast/famine selection for a smooth startup of continuous flow aerobic granulation reactors without performance interruption, IWA Biofilm Reactors Conference, 6 – 8 December 2021, Notre Dame, USA 

Wang J.,  Sun Y.,  Khunjar W.,  Pace G., Pathak A., McGrath M., Ali M., Wang Z.W. (2021) Low concentration nitrogen polishing via the synergy between partial denitrification and anaerobic ammonia oxidation in moving bed biofilm reactors under real-time feed forward control at Noman M. Cole Jr., Pollution Control Plant, IWA Biofilm Reactors Conference, 6 – 8 December 2021, Notre Dame, USA