Wen Zhang, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE
Principal Investigator
Professor
Phone: (973) 596-5520
Fax: (973) 596-5790
Email: wen.zhang@njit.edu
Office Location: Colton Hall 211
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Zhang’s team students presented their work conferences such as American Water Works Association, Impacts of Microplastics in the Urban Environment Conference, New Jersey Water Environment Annual Conference.
Zhang’s laboratory has been collaborating with multiple institutions and agencies in the past to study the environmental fate of emerging contaminants and heavy metals, including organotin, in estuaries 27-31. For example, Zhang and researchers from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tongji University examined the levels of butyltins and phenyltins in water and sediments of Yangtze Estuaries and adjacent coastal zones in China.29 In addition, Zhang also closely works with environmental scientists of Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute (MERI) and shares data with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to investigate water contaminants near Port Newark and Newark Bay. Zhang’s research has been supported by New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute (NJWRRI) to study the removal of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and other micropollutants such as microplastics. Under the funding support from the New Jersey Water Resources Research Institute (NJWRRI), Zhang’s team is investigating organotin baselines in New Jersey waters and their interactions with microplastics.
Monitoring and characterizing emerging water contaminants in estuary and coastal environment
On the other hand, Zhang’s laboratory also studies the use of natural biomass materials such as spiky sweetgum seeds as renewable bio-adsorbents to support 'waste control by waste' and point-of-use (POU) water treatment devices, which is also supported by NJWRRI. The sweetgum tree seed capsule is a local biomass found in New Jersey that often ends up in solid waste. Due to the unique porous structures, these spiky balls have been converted into cost effective adsorbents for POU water treatment devices. This raw material of spiky ball for adsorbent preparation is fully renewable, scalable and involves low carbon and energy footprint. Zhang currently investigates multiple contaminant removal with adsorption columns of spiky balls to determine treatment efficiency, reusability and cost efficiency. The results will pave new ways for the use of natural materials or waste materials for pollution control. These research activities will also promote novel and sustainable water treatment technologies to support waste-control-by-waste concepts and POU applications at small communities.
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Wen's Research Group