Dr. Xiaotao Bi received BASc (1980-1985) and MASc (1985-1988) degrees from Tsinghua University, and a PhD (1991-1994) degree from the University of British Columbia. He is currently a professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department and a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering.He has held the position as an associate director of the Clean Energy Research Centre, a director of China-Canada Joint Centre for Bioenergy Research and Innovation, and the manager of the Fluidization Research Centre.
His research has been focused on fluidization and multiphase reactor systems, spanning from turbulent fluidization, fast fluidization, choking and instability, high density circulating fluidized beds, conical spouted beds, pressure waves and fluctuations, flow patterns and regimes transitions, electrostatics in particle systems, as well as novel fluidized bed reactors for NOx reduction, biomass gasification, biomass torrefaction and catalytic combustion of H2/CH4 mixtures.
Dr. Bi has also worked on water management in PEM fuel cells, cultivation of genetically modified microalgae in airlift photobioreactors, life cycle analysis of biomass and bioenergy and integration of biomass energy systems. He has published >300 peer-reviewed papers, which have been cited more than 7000 times. He was the recipient of a 2011 UBC Killam Research Fellowship, the 2012 AIChE Particle Technology Forum Lectureship Award, and the 2014 Teaching Excellence Award of UBC Chemical and Biological Engineering Department.