Yilin (Mico) Li
With a background in chemical engineering, she is driven by a deep commitment to sustainability and innovation. Her expertise lies in advancing agricultural sustainability, with a focus on converting biomass into valuable products, such as battery anode materials, supporting sustainable energy storage solutions. This work reflects her passion for environmentally friendly energy research and the potential of biomass to shape a greener future. In addition to her hands-on research, she is also actively engaged in developing models for techno-economic analysis in biomass processing facilities. With a strong foundation in chemical processes, she has developed a unique skill set that bridges technical innovation with economic feasibility. This interdisciplinary approach not only fuels her research but also highlights her dedication to creating solutions that are both cutting-edge and economically viable, contributing to a more sustainable world.
Education
- B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
- M.S., Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering, Washington University - St. Louis
- Ph.D., Food Science and Technology, Virginia Tech University
Career Goal
- Become a PI and build a research team
Research Interests
- Development of agricultural and bioprocessing technologies: Valorization of biomass into value-added materials
- Sustainability assessment of food and bioprocessing technologies: Techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA)
- Machine learning guided conversion of agricultural waste into functional biomaterials
- Bio-derived materials and circular bioeconomy systems
Current Research
- Conductiong techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assesment to evaluate economic feasibility and environmental impact of protein production from brewer's spent grain
- Conducting techno-economic analysis to asses the economic feasibility of recovering rare earth elements through phytomining
- Developing a process to produce high purity arabinoxylan from food waste and investigating the fermentability and the interaction between the produced arabinoxylan and the gut microbiome