Haibo Huang

My research focuses on developing food- and bio-processing technologies to produce food ingredients, animal feed, and green chemicals from agricultural and food products for improving the sustainability of the food production chain. Our group is specifically interested in exploring novel solutions (e.g., fermentation, extraction, fractionation, etc.) to convert food waste/byproducts to value-added products.

Current projects include 1) fractionation and purification of high-value components (proteins, lipids, antioxidants, etc.) from food processing byproducts; 2) conversion of various types of food wastes to value-added chemicals using novel fermentation techniques; 3) quantification and characterization of major components in food. 

Q. Jin, J. O'Hair, A. C. Stewart, S. F. O'Keefe, A. P., Neilson, Y. T. Kim,  M. McGuire,  A. Lee, G. Wilder, H. Huang*, 2019. Compositional characterization of different industrial white and red grape pomaces in Virginia and the potential valorization of the major components. Foods, 8(12), 667 -681. 

Y. Feng (1), L. Tao (1), Y. He, Q. Jin, C. Kuai, Y. Zheng, M. Li, Q. Hou,  Z. Zheng,  F. Lin*, H. Huang*. 2019 Chemical-enzymatic fractionation to unlock the potential of biomass-derived carbon materials for sodium ion batteries. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 7, 26954-26965 (1: co-first authors)

​J. Li, D. Liu, M. Zhang, H. Huang. and D. Wang*. 2019. Enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation of corn stover liquor from magnesium oxide pretreatment without detoxification. Industrial Crops and Products, 140, 111728.

Y. He, D.D. Kuhn, J.A. Ogejo, S. F. O’Keefea, C. F. Fraguasa, B. D. Wiersemaa, Q. Jin, D. Yu, H. Huang*. 2019. Wet fractionation process to produce high-protein and high-fiber products from brewer’s spent grain. Food and Bioproducts Processing, 117, 266-274. 

D. Yu, Y. Sun, W. Wang, S. F. O’Keefe, A. P. Neilson, H. Feng, Z. Wang, H. Huang*. 2019. Recovery of protein hydrolysates from brewer’s spent grain using enzyme and ultrasonication. International Journal of Food Science and Technology, 55(1), 357-368. 

K. Racine, A. Lee, B. Wiersema, H. Huang, J. Lambert, A. Stewart*, & A. Neilson*. 2019. Development and Characterization of a Pilot-Scale Model Cocoa Fermentation System Suitable for Studying the Impact of Fermentation on Putative Bioactive Compounds and Bioactivity of Cocoa. Foods, 8(3), 102.

Q. Jin, N. Qureshi, H. Wang, H. Huang*. 2019. Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation of soluble and hydrolyzed sugars in apple pomace by Clostridium beijerinckii P260. Fuel. 244, 536-544

M. Cheng, H. Huang, B. Dien. V. Singh*. 2019. The Costs of Sugar Production from Different Feedstocks and Processing Technologies. Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining. DOI: 10.1002/bbb

A. Lee, A. Neilson, S. O’Keefe, J. Ogejo, H. Huang, M. Ponder,  H. Chu, Q. Jin, G. Pilot, and A. Stewart*. 2019. A laboratory-scale model cocoa fermentation using dried, unfermented beans and artificial pulp can simulate the microbial and chemical changes of on-farm cocoa fermentation. European Food Research and Technology, 245:511-519. 

Q. Jin, A. P. Neilson,  A.C.,Stewart, S. F. O'keefe, Y.T. Kim, M. McGuire, G. Wilder, H. Huang*.  2018. An integrated approach for the valorization of red grape pomace: production of oil, polyphenols, and acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE). ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. 62(12), 16279-16286. 

Q. Jin, L. Yang, N. Poe, H. Huang*. 2018. Integrated processing of plant-derived waste to produce value-added products based on the biorefinery concept". Trends in Food Science & Technology. 74:119-131. 

T. Saunders, J. Wu, R. Williams, H. Huang, M.Ponder*. 2017. ​ Inactivation of Salmonella and surrogate bacteria on cashews and macadamia nuts exposed to commercial propylene oxide processing conditions. Journal of Food Protection. 81(3):417-423.
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H. Huang, Z. Wang, S. Pan, L. Shoup, T. Felix, J. Perkins, O. May, V. Singh*. 2017. Pretreated corn stover with white rot fungi to improve its nutritive value as cattle feed. Transactions of the ASABE. 60(3): 973-979. 

H. Huang, R. Moreau, M. Powell, Z. Wang, K. Baskaran, F. Altpeter, V. Singh*. 2017. Evaluation of the Quantity and Composition of Sugars and Lipid in The Juice and Bagasse of Lipid Producing Sugarcane. Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology. 10:148-155. 

H. Huang, S. Long, V. Singh*. 2016. Techno-economic analysis of biodiesel and ethanol co-production from lipid producing sugarcane. Biofuels, Bioproducts, & Biorefining. 10:299-315. 

H. Huang, T. Clemente, S. Long, V. Singh*. 2016. Techno-economic analysis of biofuel production from lipid producing sugarcane and sweet sorghum. Industrial Biotechnology. 12(6): 357-365.  
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P. Somavat, H. Huang, S. Kumar, M. K. Garg, M. C. Danao, V. Singh, K. D. Rausch*, M. R. Paulsen. 2016. Comparison of hermetic storage of wheat with traditional storage methods in India. Applied Engineering in Agriculture. 33(1):121-130. 

Z. Wang, H. Huang, E. de Mejia, Q. Li, V. Singh*. 2016. Comparison of fermentation characteristics between anthocyanin-rich pigmented corn and yellow dent corn in dry grind process methods. Cereal Chemistry. 93(4):344-351.