XiaoYu Wu (He/Him)

Professor XiaoYu Wu’s research group, Greener Production @ Waterloo combines expertise in thermal science, material engineering and techno-economics to develop sustainable technologies for energy conversion and chemical production. Both experimental and numerical methods will be applied to develop a fundamental understanding of the thermodynamics and kinetics in the processes. Thermo-electro-chemical processes is of interest to maximize system versatility. The kinetics and reaction mechanisms can be obtained from high throughput benchtop reactors and physical models. System-scaled numerical analysis will be used to investigate the optimal operating conditions and the energy-chemical integration. Techno-economic assessment will also be explored to evaluate the costs. These findings will accelerate the material development and process optimization and facilitate the commercialization of these technologies. The goal is to utilize renewable resources and improve global living standards.

Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, XiaoYu was a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also obtained his Ph.D. degree. He has published papers in journals such as Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, the Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, AIChE Journal and ChemSusChem. He serves as the Guest Associate Editor in an open-access journal Frontiers in Energy Research for a theme collection of “Sustainable Hydrogen for Energy, Fuel and Commodity Applications.”

• Hydrogen
• Ammonia
• Energy storage
• Techno-economic assessment
• Sustainability
• Reacting flow
• Oxygen transport membrane reactor
• Thermochemical redox kinetics
• CO2 capture and utilization
• Solid oxide catalysts

• 2017, Doctorate Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• 2012, Master of Science Thermal & Energy Engineering, Zhejiang University, China
• 2009, Bachelor of Science (BS) Energy & Environment System Engineering, Chu Ko-Chen Honors College & Zhejiang University, China

• ME 250 - Thermodynamics 1
  • Taught in 2023
• ME 353 - Heat Transfer 1
  • Taught in 2021, 2022
• ME 651 - Heat Conduction
  • Taught in 2021, 2022
• ME 659 - Energy and Environment
  • Taught in 2020
• MTE 309 - Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer
  • Taught in 2022, 2023
• SYDE 381 - Thermodynamics
  • Taught in 2023

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• C.J. Cunanan, C.A. Elorza Casas, M. Yorke, M. Fowler, X.Y. Wu, Design and analysis of an offshore wind power to ammonia production system in Nova Scotia, Energies, 15 (24), 9558, 2022
• M. Jain, R. Muthalathu, X.Y. Wu, Electrified ammonia production as a commodity and energy storage medium to connect the food, energy, and trade sectors, iScience, 25 (8), 104724 2022
• Z. Zhu, H. Wang, X.Y. Wu, K. Luo, J. Fan, Computational screening of metal-organic frameworks for ammonia capture from H2/N2/NH3 mixtures, ACS Omega, 7 (42), 37640-37653, 2022
• F. Elmanakhly, A DaCosta, B. Berry, R. Stasko, M. Fowler, X.Y. Wu, Hydrogen economy transition plan: A case study on Ontario, AIMS Energy, 9 (4), 775-811, 2021
• X.Y. Wu, Y. Luo, F. Hess and W. Lipinski, Sustainable Hydrogen for Energy, Fuel and Commodity Applications, Frontiers in Energy Research, 9, 698669, 2021
• A. Wu, J. Yang, B. Xu, X-Y. Wu, and others, Direct ammonia synthesis from the air via gliding arc plasma integrated with single atom electrocatalysis, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 299, 120667, 2021
• L. Cai, X.Y. Wu, X. Zhu, A.F. Ghoniem and W. Yang, High-Performance Oxygen Transport Membrane Reactors Integrated with IGCC for Carbon Capture, AIChE Journal, e16427, 2020
• X.Y. Wu, L. Cai, X. Zhu, A.F. Ghoniem and W. Yang, A high‐efficiency novel IGCC‐OTM carbon capture power plant design, Journal of Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, e10059, 2020
• Y.X. Ma, Y.Y. Ma, J. Li, Q. Li, X. Hu, Z. Ye, X.Y. Wu, C.E. Buckley and D. Dong, CeO2-promotion of NiAl2O4 reduction via CeAlO3 formation for efficient methane reforming, Journal of the Energy Institute, 991, 2020
• X.Y. Wu and A.F. Ghoniem, Mixed ionic-electronic conducting (MIEC) membranes for thermochemical reduction of CO2: A review, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 1, 2019

• Engineering researchers awarded almost $1.5 million
• Transitioning to a net-zero economy
• Analyzing the economic potential of electrified ammonia production
• Lessons learned: undergraduate student contributes to green energy research
• Researchers awarded $874,000 for tools, equipment