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    Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management

    EN 3074

    Dept. 3295

    1000 E. University Ave.

    Laramie, WY 82071

    Phone: (307)766-2390

    Email: cae.info@uwyo.edu

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    Civil and Architectural Engineering

    College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

    Haibo Zhai

    Roy & Caryl Cline Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Professor       

    Room 3034, Engineering Building
    University of Wyoming

    College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

    Department of Civil & Architectural Engineering

    Dept. 3295
    1000 E. University Avenue
    Laramie, WY 82071

     

    Phone: (307) 766-2318
    E-mail: hzhai@uwyo.edu

    Research Website: https://www.zhailab.us/ 


     

    Haibo Zhai

    Education:

    • Ph.D., Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2008

    • M.S., Environmental Engineering, Tongji University, 2002

    • B.S., Water Supply and Drainage Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, 1999

    Academic Appointments:

    • 8/2020-present, Associate Professor/Professor Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming

    • 2021-present, Adjunct Associate Professor/Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

    • 7/2017-8/2020, Associate Research Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

    • 12/2012-6/2017, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

    • 12/2010-8/2020, Manager for Integrated Environmental Control Model Development, Carnegie Mellon University

    • 4/2008-11/2010, Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University

    • 1/2008-3/2008, Postdoctoral Research Associate, North Carolina State University

    Teaching Interests:

    • Carbon Capture and Storage

    • Water for Energy

    • Energy and Environmental Systems

    Bio:

    Haibo Zhai is the Roy & Caryl Cline Distinguished Chair in Engineering and a Professor in Environmental Engineering at the University of Wyoming (UW). He is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Energy Resources and the School of Computing at UW and in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Prior to moving to Wyoming, he was a research professor at CMU and a key developer of the Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM), a computer tool used worldwide for power plant modeling and techno-economic assessment. Now he serves as Director for the IECM development. His work on carbon capture and storage has been referenced in the U.S. national rulemaking for controlling power sector carbon dioxide emissions and in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. He has been invited as an ad-hoc reviewer by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 40+ academic journals, and numerous research funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation (U.S.), the U.S. Department of Energy, the Dutch Research Council (Netherlands), the Knowledge Foundation (Sweden), and the National Science Centre (Poland). He also serves on the advisory board of iScience, an interdisciplinary journal of Cell Press. He was an appointed member of the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Transportation and Air Quality (2011-2020).

    Research:

    Professor Zhai conducts systems research in low-carbon energy and environmental sustainability. His research addresses technical, economic, and policy issues related to energy and environmental systems and climate change mitigation. His research interests mainly include low-carbon energy systems, carbon capture, utilization and storage, hydrogen energy, negative emissions technologies, low-grade heat & water recovery and reuse, and the energy-water nexus under carbon constraints for climate change mitigation. His research involves a combination of computational modeling for energy and environmental systems with engineering economics, risk analysis, and policy analysis, and provides scientific support for technological and policy developments.

    Selected Journal Publications:

    • Rode, D., Anderson, J., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck, P. (2023). Six principles to guide large-scale carbon capture and storage development. Energy Research and Social Science, 103, 103214.

    • Rode, D., Anderson, J., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck, P. (2023). Modifying the EPA’s new power plant rules to eliminate unnecessary reliability risks. Environmental Science & Technology, 57(30), 1090410906.

    • Wu, Z., Zhai, H., Grol, E., Able, C., & Siefert, N. (2023). Treatment of brackish water for fossil power plant cooling. Nature Water, 1, 471–483.

    • Zhang, C., Zhai, H., Cao, L., Li, X., Cheng, F., Peng, L., Tong, K., Meng, J., Yang, L., & Wang, X. (2022). Understanding the complexity of existing fossil-fuel power plant decarbonization. iScience, 25, 104758.

    • Anderson, J., Rode, D., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck, P. (2022). Fossil fuel options for power sector net-zero emissions with sequestration tax credits. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(16), 11162–11171.

    • Dindi, A., Coddington, K., Garofalo, J. F., Wu, W., & Zhai, H. (2022). Policy-driven potential for deploying carbon capture and sequestration in a fossil-rich power sector. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(14), 9872–9881.

    • Zhai, H., & Rubin, E.S. (2022). It is time to invest in 99% CO2 Capture. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(14), 9829–9831.

    • Rode, D. C., Anderson, J. J., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck, P. S. (2022). Many hands make light work: Widening the U.S. path forward from COP26. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(1), 10−12.

    • Zhai, H., Rubin, E.S., Grol, E.J., O'Connell, A.C., Wu, Z., & Lewis, E.G. (2022). Dry cooling retrofits at existing fossil fuel-fired power plants in a water-stressed region: Tradeoffs in water savings, cost, and capacity shortfalls. Applied Energy, 306, 117997.

    • Wu, Z. & Zhai, H. (2021). Consumptive life cycle water use of biomass-to-power plants with carbon capture and sequestration. Applied Energy, 303, 117702.

    • Fonseca, F. R., Craig, M., Jaramillo, P., Berges, M., Severnini, E., Loew, A., Zhai, H., Cheng, Y., Nijssen, B., Voisin, N., & Yearsley, J. (2021). Climate-induced tradeoffs in planning and operating costs of a regional electricity system. Environmental Science & Technology, 55(16), 11204−11215.

    • Fonseca, F. R., Craig, M., Jaramillo, P., Berges, M., Severnini, E., Loew, A., Zhai, H., Cheng, Y., Nijssen, B., Voisin, N., & Yearsley, J. (2021). Effects of climate change on capacity expansion decisions of an electricity generation fleet in the Southeast U.S. Environmental Science & Technology, 55(4), 2522−2531.

    • Anderson, J., Rode, D., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck, P. (2021). Transitioning to a carbon-constrained world: reductions in coal-fired power plant emissions through unit-specific, least-cost mitigation frontiers. Applied Energy, 288, 116599.

    • Anderson, J., Rode, D., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck P. (2021). Reducing carbon dioxide emissions beyond 2030: Time to shift U.S. power-sector focus. Energy Policy, 148, 111778.

    • Anderson, J., Rode, D., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck P. (2020). Future U.S. Energy Policy: Two paths diverge in a wood…does it matter which is taken? Environmental Science & Technology, 54 (20), 1280712809.

    • Zhai, H. (2019). Deep reductions of committed emissions from existing power infrastructure: Potential paths in the United States and China. Environmental Science & Technology, 2019, 53(24), 14097–14098.

    • Anderson, J., Rode, D., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck, P. (2019). On the road to Paris: the shifting landscape of COEnvironmental Science & Technology53(21), 12156−12157.

    • Zhai, H. (2019). Advanced membranes and learning scale required for cost-effective post-combustion carbon capture. iScience,13, 440–451.

    • Peng, W., Wagner, F., Ramana, M. V., Zhai, H., Small, M., Dalin, C., Zhang, X., & Mauzerall, D. L. (2018). Managing China’s coal power plants to address multiple environmental objectives. Nature Sustainability, 1, 693–701.

    • Zhai, H., & Rubin, E.S. (2018). Systems analysis of physical absorption of CO2in ionic liquids for pre-combustion carbon capture. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(8), 4996–5004.

    • Anderson, J., Rode, D., Zhai, H., & Fischbeck, P (2018). Will we always have Paris? CO2 reduction without the Clean Power Plan. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(5), 2432–2433.

    • Hu, B., & Zhai, H. (2017). The cost of carbon capture and storage for coal-fired power plants in China. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 65, 23–31.

    • Craig, M. T., Jaramillo, P., Zhai, H., & Klima, K. (2017). The economic merits of flexible carbon capture and sequestration as a compliance strategy with the Clean Power Plan. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(3), 1102–1109.

    • Talati, S., Zhai, H., & Morgan, M. G. (2016). Viability of carbon capture and sequestration retrofits for existing coal-fired power plants under an emission trading scheme. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(23), 12567–12574.

    • Talati, S., Zhai, H., Kyle, G. P., Morgan, M. G., Patel, P., & Liu, L. (2016). Consumptive water use from electricity generation in the Southwest under alternative climate, technology, and policy futures. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(22), 12095–12104.

    • Zhai, H., & Rubin, E. S. (2016). A techno-economic assessment of hybrid cooling systems for coal-and natural-gas-fired power plants with and without carbon capture and storage. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(7), 4127–4134.

    • Roussanaly, S., Anantharaman, R., Lindqvist, K., Zhai, H., & Rubin, E. (2016). Membrane properties required for post-combustion CO2 capture at coal-fired power plants. Journal of Membrane Science, 511, 250–264. 

    • Ou, Y., Zhai, H., & Rubin, E. S. (2016). Life cycle water use of coal-and natural-gas-fired power plants with and without carbon capture and storage. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 44, 249–261. 

    • Khalilpour, R., Mumford, K., Zhai, H., Abbas, A., Stevens, G., & Rubin, E. S. (2015). Membrane-based carbon capture from flue gas: a review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 103, 286–300.

    • Zhai, H., Ou, Y., & Rubin, E. S. (2015). Opportunities for decarbonizing existing US coal-fired power plants via CO2 capture, utilization and storage. Environmental Science & Technology, 49(13), 7571–7579.

    • Talati, S., Zhai, H., & Morgan, M. G. (2014). Water impacts of CO2 emission performance standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants. Environmental Science & Technology, 48(20), 11769–11776. 

    • Zhai, H., & Rubin, E. S. (2013). Techno-economic assessment of polymer membrane systems for postcombustion carbon capture at coal-fired power plants. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(6), 3006–3014.

    • Rubin, E. S., & Zhai, H. (2012). The cost of carbon capture and storage for natural gas combined cycle power plants. Environmental Science & Technology, 46(6), 3076–3084.

    • Zhai, H., Rubin, E. S., & Versteeg, P. L. (2011). Water use at pulverized coal power plants with postcombustion carbon capture and storage. Environmental Science &Technology, 45(6), 2479–2485. 

    • Zhai, H., & Rubin, E. S. (2010). Performance and cost of wet and dry cooling systems for pulverized coal power plants with and without carbon capture and storage. Energy Policy, 38(10), 5653–5660.

    • Frey, H. C., Zhai, H., & Rouphail, N. M. (2009). Regional on-road vehicle running emissions modeling and evaluation for conventional and alternative vehicle technologies. Environmental Science & Technology, 43(21), 8449–8455.

    • Zhai, H., Frey, H. C., & Rouphail, N. M. (2008). A vehicle-specific power approach to speed-and facility-specific emissions estimates for diesel transit buses. Environmental Science & Technology, 42(21), 7985–7991.

     
    Contact Us

    Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management

    EN 3074

    Dept. 3295

    1000 E. University Ave.

    Laramie, WY 82071

    Phone: (307)766-2390

    Email: cae.info@uwyo.edu

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