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, 2024
• ME 353 - Heat Transfer 1
  • Taught in 2021, 2022
• ME 651 - Heat Conduction
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2024
• 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.

• Giovanniello M.A., and Wu X.-Y., Hybrid lithium-ion battery and hydrogen energy storage systems for a wind-supplied microgrid, Applied Energy, Volume 127, Canada, 2023.
• Wu A., Lv J., Xuan X., Zhang J., Cao A., Wang M., Wu X.-Y., Liu Q., Zhong Y., Sun W., Ye Q., Peng Y., Lin X., Qi Z., Zhu S., Huang Q., Li X., Wu H.B., and Yan J., Electrocatalytic Disproportionation of Nitric Oxide Toward Efficient Nitrogen Fixation, Advanced Energy Materials, Volume 13, China, 2023.
• Ding D., and Wu X.-Y., Optimization of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle-to-Grid in Alberta by Mixed Integer Linear Programming, 2023 IEEE 11th International Conference on Smart Energy Grid Engineering, SEGE 2023, 43-47, Canada, 2023.
• Jain M., Muthalathu R., and Wu X.-Y., Electrified ammonia production as a commodity and energy storage medium to connect the food, energy, and trade sectors, iScience, Volume 25, Canada, 2022.
• Cunanan C.J., Elorza Casas C.A., Yorke M., Fowler M., and Wu X.-Y., Design and Analysis of an Offshore Wind Power to Ammonia Production System in Nova Scotia, Energies, Volume 15, Canada, 2022.
• Chen G., Feldhoff A., Weidenkaff A., Li C., Liu S., Zhu X., Sunarso J., Huang K., Wu X.-Y., Ghoniem A.F., Yang W., Xue J., Wang H., Shao Z., Duffy J.H., Brinkman K.S., Tan X., Zhang Y., Jiang H., Costa R., Friedrich K.A., and Kriegel R., Roadmap for Sustainable Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conducting Membranes, Advanced Functional Materials, Volume 32, Germany, 2022.
• Wu X.-Y., and Ghoniem A.F., Mixed ionic-electronic conducting (MIEC) membranes for thermochemical reduction of CO2: A review, Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, Volume 74, 1-30, United States, 2022.
• Wu X.-Y., and Ghoniem A.F., CO 2 reduction and methane partial oxidation on surface catalyzed La 0.9 Ca 0.1 FeO 3-δ

• Research team uses idle trucks to power the grid
• Using ammonia to push hydrogen as an alternative fuel
• 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