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Our mission is to drive innovation at the intersection of optical sensing such as hyperspectral imaging, NIR spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, artificial intelligence, and organic nanozyme engineering to develop sustainable, data-driven solutions for real-time quality assessment, detection of toxic molecules, and characterization of food, bioproducts, and bioprocesses for advancing food security, safety, and environmental sustainability.
Dr. Takhar explores polymer mechanics coupled with movement of heat, moisture, and oil in porous foods to improve their quality during processing. He develops and solves multiscale mathematical models to improve food quality and processing technologies.
My lab conducts research in environment and energy. We advance science and develop technology in conversion of biowaste (including food waste, algal bloom, sludge and animal waste) into biocrude oil and other biochemicals via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The HTL biocrude is then upgraded into drop-in transportation fuels via catalytic hydrotreating and distillation. We also research on treatment, recovery and reuse of nutrients in the post-HTL wastewater (PHW) by means of membrane, electrochemical and algal culture. Algal/crop culture in PHW potentially amplifies the biomass production by using the nutrients in the original biowaste multiple times. This paradigm is referred to as \"Environment-Enhancing Energy\", aimed at achieving zero-carbon emission energy production.
'); document.write(' '); document.write('My lab also conducts research in room air distribution and air cleaning technologies. (https://www.routledge.com/Indoor-Air-Quality-Engineering/Zhang/p/book/9781566706742). We have developed a non-intrusive, full scale, and real-time measurement technology referred to as Volumetric Particle Tracking Velocimetry (VPTV). This real-time, 3-D VPTV technology is featured by integrating smart cameras, GPU and parallel computing. It has been successfully used in research projects of air quality and disease transmission in indoor environment such as aircraft cabins and air cleaning for vehicles. In the air cleaning area, we conduct research on aerodynamic particle separation technologies utilizing low-pressure and low-turbulent intensity, instead of the conventional theory using high-pressure and high-turbulence, to improve particle separation and energy efficiency.
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