Illinois Sustainable Technology Center - University of Illinois

Wei Zheng

Senior Research Scientist/Adjunct Faculty at NRES

One East Hazelwood Drive
Champaign, Illinois 61820
phone: 217-333-7276
fax: 217-333-8944
weizheng@illinois.edu

Wei Zheng

Dr. Zheng is a senior research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and an adjunct assistant professor at Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science (NRES) at the University of Illinois (http://nres.illinois.edu/Zheng_Wei). Prior to joining the ISTC, he worked as a research scientist at USDA-ARS, Salinity Laboratory and University of California, Riverside. He earned a Ph.D in Environmental Chemistry from Zhejiang University (China). Currently, his researches primarily focus on two areas: one is emerging contaminants and pathogens associated with wastewater treatment and water reuse; the other is bioenergy, especially for biochar production and application.

Research Interests

  • Biochar Research: Carbon Sequestration; Soil Amendment; Contaminant Remediation
  • Environmental Research: Environmental Fate and transport of Contaminants including Pesticides and Pharmaceuticals and Personal-Care Products (PPCPs); Detoxification and Remediation; Contaminant Processes in Ecosystems; Water Quality Chemistry
  • Method Development for Trace Contaminant Analysis
  • Food Quality Analysis: Antioxidant

Analytical Skill

Expertise in the operation and maintenance of analytical equipment:

  • Gas chromatography (GC)
  • GC-MS; Liquid chromatography (HPLC)
  • LC-MS/MS
  • Ion chromatography (IC)

Familiar with other analytical techniques:

  • UV-VIS
  • FTIR
  • NMR
  • XRD
  • AAS
  • ICP
  • PCR

Professional Service

Review Panels

  • USDA Capacity Building Grants Research Panel
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Research Competitiveness Program in the Environmental Chemistry

Reviewer for Grant Proposals

  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Science Foundation
  • Department of Energy
  • US Department of Agriculture
  • US Environmental Protection Agency

Reviewer for Journals

  • Dr. Zheng has reviewed over 100 manuscripts for numerous peer-reviewed Journals

Funded Grants (since 2008 at the ISTC)

  1. Uptake and Accumulation of Pharmaceuticals and Hormones in Vegetables after Irrigation of Reused Water, Illinois Hazardous Waste Funds, $25,000, (2012-2013), Principal Investigator (PI).
  2. Spatial and Source Apportionment Analysis of Contaminants in the Illinois River Sediments, Illinois Hazardous Waste Funds, $40,000, (2012-2013), PI.
  3. Fate and Transport of Steroid Hormones and Veterinary Antibiotics Derived from Cattle Farms, USDA/NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, $386,775 (2010-2013), PI.
  4. Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment for Sustainable Agriculture, Illinois Department of Agriculture, $24,000 (2009-2010), PI.
  5. Application of Biochar as a Soil Amendment in Greenhouse, Illinois Hazardous Waste Funds, $4,000. (2010-2012), PI.
  6. Fate of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Irrigated Wastewater Effluent, Illinois Hazardous Waste Funds, $24,970 (2011-2012), co-PI.

Awards and Highlights

2013 "Project: Compost and Waste Management". SisterCities International, May 2013: http://www.sister-cities.org/Zomba-Urbana-Haizhu-Guangzhou

2012 "Team determines how estrogens persist in dairy farm wastewater". U of I News Bureau, June 2012: http://news.illinois.edu/news/12/0605estrogen_WeiZheng.html

2012 First-place, Poster Award in 6th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology.

2004 First-place, Young Scientist’s Research Recognition Award by ACS Agrochemical Division.

2002 The manuscript titled "Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in selected herbs" is highly appreciated in Newscripts section of Chemical Engineering News (February 25, 2002, p.56), Chemistry published by ACS (2002, spring/summer, p4), and Better Nutrition (April 2002, p.20).

2001 The manuscript titled "Effect of Plant Growth Temperature on Antioxidant Capacity in Strawberry" is featured in the perspectives section of Chemistry in Britain (January, 2002, p17-18) and recommended as 2001 Hot Article in J. Agric. Food Chem.

Selected Publications (> 60)

  1. Wei Zheng, Xiaolin Li, Scott R. Yates, Scott A. Bradford. Anaerobic transformation kinetics and mechanism of steroid estrogenic hormones in dairy lagoon water. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012, 46, 5471-5478.
  2. Wei Zheng, Mingxin Guo, Teresa Chow, Douglas N. Bennett, Nandakishore Rajagopalan. Sorption properties of greenwaste biochar for two triazine pesticides. Journal of Hazardous Materials. 2010, 121-126.
  3. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Scott A. Bradford. Analysis of steroid hormones in a typical dairy waste disposal system. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2008, 42, 530-535.
  4. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Sharon K. Papiernik. Transformation kinetics and mechanism of the sulfonylurea herbicides pyrazosulfuron ethyl and halosulfuron ethyl in aqueous solutions. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2008, 56(16), 7367-7372.
  5. Wei Zheng, Jay Gan, Sharon K. Papiernik, Scott R. Yates. Identification of volatile/semi-volatile products derived from chemical remediation of cis-1,3-dichloropropene by thiosulfate. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2007. 41, 6454-6459.
  6. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Sharon K. Papiernik. Reducing fumigant emission from soil columns with a simulated reactive surface barrier. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2006. 40, 2402-2407.
  7. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Sharon K. Papiernik, Minxing Guo. Dechlorination of chloropicrin and 1,3-dichloropropene by bisulfide: Redox and nuclephilic substitution reaction. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2006, 54, 2280-2287.
  8. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Sharon K. Papiernik. Conversion of metam sodium and emission of fumigant from soil columns. Atmos. Environ. 2006, 40, 7046-7056.
  9. Wei Zheng, Sharon K. Papiernik, Minxing Guo, Scott R. Yates. Construction of a reactive surface barrier to reduce 1,3-dichloropropene emissions. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2005. 24(8). 1867-1874.
  10. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Sharon K. Papiernik, Minxing Guo. Transformation of herbicide propachlor by an agrochemical thiourea. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004. 38, 6855-6860.
  11. Wei Zheng, Sharon K. Papiernik, Minxing Guo, Scott R. Yates. Remediation of methyl iodide in aqueous solution and amended soils with thiourea. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004, 38, 1188-1194.
  12. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Sharon K. Papiernik, Minxing Guo. Effect of combined application of methyl isothiocyanate and chloropicrin on their transformation. J. Environ. Qual. 2004, 33, 2157-2164.
  13. Wei Zheng, Scott R. Yates, Minxing Guo, Sharon K. Papiernik, Jung Ho Kim. 2004. Transformation of chloropicrin and 1,3-dichloropropene by metam sodium in a combined application of fumigants. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2004, 52, 3002-3009.
  14. Wei Zheng, Weiping Liu, Yuezhong Wen and Sangjin Lee. Photochemistry of insecticide imidacloprid: direct and sensitized photolysis in aqueous medium. J. Environ. Sci. 2004, 16, 539-542.
  15. Wei Zheng, Sharon K. Papiernik, Minxing Guo, Scott R. Yates. Competitive degradation between fumigants chloropicrin and 1,3-dichloropropene in unamended and Amended soils. J. Environ. Qual. 2003, 32, 1733-1742.
  16. Wei Zheng, Sharon K. Papiernik, Minxing Guo, Scott R. Yates. Accelerated degradation of methyl iodide by agrochemicals. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003, 51, 673-679.
  17. Wei Zheng, Shiow Y. Oxygen radical absorbing capacity of phenolic in blueberries, cranberries, chokeberries, and lingonberries. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003, 51, 502-509.
  18. Wei Zheng, Shiow Y. Wang. Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in selected herbs. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2001, 49, 5165-5170.

Invited Presentations

Dr. Zheng has given numerous invited presentations to national and international audiences (total of 23).

Illinois Sustainable Technology Center

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217-333-8940

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