General Description
The Institute was founded in March 2018 and relies on the Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area of Guangzhou University and Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education. Professor Wang Pingshan, an expert of high level talents plan of the Organization Department of the government of China, serves as the Director.
The Institute focuses on microbiological and geochemical processes that control nitrogen cycling in the estuary and marine environment. The Institute employs geochemical, microbiological, modeling, and molecular techniques to study the environmental regulation of these processes and their effects on global biogeochemical cycles.
The goal is to provide fundamental insight into microbial mediated nitrogen cycling in the estuary and coast that ultimately affect coastal chemistry, biology and climate.
The Institute has a high-level research team with eleven key researchers to include Professor Wang Pingshan, Professor Xie Tingzheng, Associate Professor Wang Chuan, Associate Professor Huang Yongchao, Associate Professor Jiang Zhilong and Associate Professor Zhang Zhe, outstanding young doctor lecturer Su Peiyang, Yang Jingxin, Liu Die and Wu Tun and excellent postdoctoral student Liu Qianqian. There is one scientific research support staff member and 16 graduate students in the Institute.
The Institute mainly carries out high-level research in three areas: environmental polymer materials, industrial flue gas and wastewater pollution control, environmental electrochemistry and catalysis which include self-assembled supramolecular soft materials based on terpyridine, application of functional terpyridine polymer materials in organic pollutants and heavy metals treatment, regulation and mechanism of electric fenton water treatment process, and water pollution advanced treatment and oxidation technology.
The Institute undertakes two general projects of NSFC and three youth funds of NSFC. Staff members have published more than 90 papers in Science, Nat. Chem., Nat. Commun., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. and other internationally top journals. The Institute has made a recent breakthrough in the research of terpyridine metal supramolecular self-assembly and their properties. Related research results have been published in the top international chemical journals《Nature Chemistry, IF= 23.193》and《J. Am. Chem. Soc., IF= 14.695》in full text.
The Institute of Water Quality and Conservation for Pearl River Delta
The Institute of Water Quality and Conservation for the Pearl River Delta was developed from the Innovation Center of Water Safety & Protection in the Pearl River Delta. The Center was established in January, 2015 and merged into the Institute of Environmental Studies at Greater Bay in September, 2018.
The Institute aims to investigate the environmental geochemical behaviors of pollutants originating from mining, smelting and electronic waste dismantling in the Pearl River Delta, and to develop corresponding control technology and remediation strategy. The Institute is devoted to providing management recommendations and technical supports for water safety and protection of the Pearl River Delta. Main research fields include: (1) environmental geochemical behaviors of thallium, antimony, arsenic, rare earth and radioactive elements; (2) control and recovery technology of thallium etc. in the process of utilization of mineral resources; (3) environmental and human health effects of persistent organic pollutants; and (4) remediation and control materials for environmental pollution.
The Institute of Micro-Interfacial Processes & Water Purification
The Institute of Micro-Interfacial Processes & Water Purification (IMIPWP) was established in April 2017. IMIPWP is a high-level scientific research team specializing in the comprehensive research of environmental micro-interface processes and water purification. The Institute is supported by the Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area of Guangzhou University and the Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education. Professor Hu Chun, the winner of the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars and a prestigious scholar in China, is the Director.
Based on the strategic theme of "water quality safety and restoration" and facing the regional environmental problems and the major requirement of national ecological civilization and sustainable development, IMIPWP studies the frontier of international environmental science and engineering development, adheres to the scientific research spirit of "seeking truth, being practical and pioneering", and gives full play to the comprehensive advantages of environmental science, environmental engineering, chemistry, biology and computational science. On the basis of interdisciplinary combination, IMIPWP is committed to the research of pollution control and remediation technology, environmental catalytic process and principle, environmental purification and resource recycling, environmental microbial regulation and urban pipe network transmission and distribution.
Researchers of IMIPWP have made consistent breakthroughs in solving scientific theory and application problems in the process of environmental micro-interface and water quality purification, developed and mastered the core technology with independent intellectual property rights, realized the transformation and application of advanced achievements and engineering demonstration, and finally solved the basic and applied environmental problems. The institute provided a guarantee for developing ecological civilization in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and building high-level university of Guangzhou University.
The research of IMIPWP focuses on the advanced purification of drinking water, water quality risk control of water supply network, wastewater treatment and resource cycling. The research areas of the Institute include: I) Mechanism and application of advanced oxidation water treatment technology with heterogeneous catalysis, mainly including Fenton catalysis, photocatalysis, persulfate catalysis and catalytic ozonation; II) Mechanism and application of chemical and microbial coupling drinking water purification and safe transportation technology based on enhanced interface electron transfer; III) Mechanism and application of wastewater purification-cycling based on surface structure regulation of nano-material.
IMIPWP has a high-caliber research team, which is the first innovation team working on environmental science and engineering at the University. There are eleven core members of IMIPWP to include Prof. Hu Chun, winner of the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, Lyu Lai, the "Young Pearl River Scholars" of Guangdong Province, Zhao Yubao, Xing Xueci, Chen Zhihong, Xiong Zhu, Liu Zhiquan, Yu Li, Zeng Qingyi, Gao Yaowen and Wang Zhu. IMIPWP has one postdoctoral researcher, three administrative staff, six doctoral students and 30 postgraduate students. In recent years, most of the students enrolled are outstanding postgraduates and undergraduates from universities of Project 985, Project 211 and “Double First-Class”. IMIPWP enjoys good research conditions and high-quality research instruments and equipment to include electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer, Raman spectrometer, UV-visible-near-infrared diffuse reflection spectrometer, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), fluorescence spectrometer, Fourier infrared spectrometer, ion chromatography and total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer.
IMIPWP currently undertakes the key projects, general projects, youth projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Plan of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, the Introduced Innovative R&D Team Project under the “Pearl River Talent Recruitment Program” of Guangdong Province and the Guangdong Province Universities and Colleges Pearl River Scholar Funded Scheme (Young Scholar). The Institute has received more than 80 million RMB in research funds and has achieved a series of important achievements. Staff members recently made breakthroughs in the concept of classic Fenton reaction, overcome the technical bottleneck, successfully developed a dual reaction center (DRC) Fenton-catalytic system and clarified its reaction mechanism which was published in the top journals of environmental designs. Staff members have also applied for multiple invention patents and signed horizontal projects with related companies.
IMIPWP is determined to build a top research team and has taken lead in several research areas. The Institute welcomes excellent scholars and students and looks forward to the support and sincere cooperation from various industries.
The Institute of Environment and Health
The Institute of Environment and Health (IEH) of Environmental Research Institute at Greater Bay Area currently has eight principal investigators to include three professors, three associate professors and two assistant professors. The eight research groups are carrying out research on environmental monitoring, ecotoxicology, and environmental health. Another mission of IEH is to train future researchers in environmental health to include postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. and M.S. students.
The members of IEH receive support from MOST, NSFC and Guangdong Province. Their works have been published on journals to include Nature Nanotechnology, Chemical Reviews, Chemical Society Reviews, Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Nano Letters, ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials and Environmental Science & Technology.
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