Prof. Dr. Mingyuan Zheng is the head of Biomass to Ethylene Glycol Group, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), CAS. He studied at Jilin University in 1993-1997 and got the BS degree. In the following two years, he worked at National Engineering and Technology Research Center for Catalysis. In 1999-2005, he pursued his doctoral degree under the Prof Tao Zhang’s supervision at DICP, and then started work there after graduation till now; During 2007-2008, he went to Prof. Jinguang Chen’s group at University of Delaware, US, for a short term visiting study.

As a principle inventor, in 2008, he first discovered and reported the novel process of “Catalytic conversion of cellulose to ethylene glycol over tungsten carbide catalysts”. His current research interest focuses on biomass conversion to low-carbon polyols and high-value chemicals, ethanol conversion to value-added chemicals, synthesis and applications of high-performance hydrogenation catalysts. He has undertaken many projects from NSFC,CAS, and international/domestic companies. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers in widely circulated journals, such as Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Energy Environ. Sci., ACS Catal., J. Catal., Green Chem., ChemSusChem, AIChE J., and Chem. Eng. J. He has filed more than 70 Chinese patents (>40 of them have been granted), and more than 10 PCT patents.

Research Interests:

☆ Catalytic conversion of biomass to low carbon diols.

☆ Catalytic conversion of ethanol to high value chemicals.

☆ Synthesis of high-performance hydrogenation catalysts and their applications.

Five recent publications:

 1. C Wang, M Zheng*, X Li, X Li, T Zhang*, Catalytic conversion of ethanol into butadiene over high performance LiZnHf-MFI zeolite nanosheets, Green Chem., 2019, 21,  1006-1010.

      2.  J Pang, M Zheng*, T Zhang*, Chapter Two: Synthesis of ethanol and its catalytic conversion, Adv. Catal., 64, 2019, 89-191.

      3.  J Pang, M Zheng*, X Li, Y Jiang, Y Zhao, A Wang, J Wang, X Wang, T Zhang*, Selective conversion of concentrated glucose to 1,2-propylene glycol and ethylene 

glycol by using RuSn/AC catalysts, Appl. Catal. B, 2018, 239, 300-308.

      4.  S Ai, M Zheng*, Y Jiang, J Pang, C Wang, A Wang, X Wang, T Zhang*, Kinetic study on catalytic dehydration of 1,2-propanediol and 1,2-butanediol over H-Beta for

bioethylene glycol purification, Chem. Eng. J., 2018, 335, 530-538.

      5.  M Zheng, J Pang, R Sun, A Wang, T Zhang*, Selectivity control for cellulose to diols: dancing on eggs, ACS Catal., 2017, 7, 1939–1954.