Dr. Chenxi Zhang received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University in 2017. He joined the same department as a faculty member in 2020, becoming the first faculty member born in the 1990s in the department. He currently serves as an Associate Professor.
He is committed to applied basic research in multiphase flow reaction engineering, targeting the processes of coal-based syngas-to-aromatics conversion and CO2 hydrogenation to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Over the past five years, Dr. Zhang has published more than 40 peer-reviewed papers as a corresponding author in leading journals including Science, Nature Sustainability, AIChE Journal, Nature Communication. He has filed over 90 national invention patents, with more than 40 granted, and completed 3 technology transfer projects. As principal investigator, he has led more than 20 national and provincial research projects.
Dr. Zhang has received a series of prestigious academic and industry awards in recognition of his outstanding contributions to chemical engineering and sustainable energy research. His recognitions include MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 (Asia Pacific) (2025), the Youth Innovation Award from the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (2024), the Hou Debang Chemical Science and Technology Youth Award (2025), the Youth Award from the China Renewable Energy Society (2025), the Young Particuology Award from the Chinese Society of Particuology (2022), the Future Scholar Award at the Global Chinese Chemical Engineers Symposium (2022), the World Society of Engineering Thermochemistry (WSETC) Innovation Award (2025), and the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research Influential Researcher Awards (2024). He has also been honored with the Particuology Outstanding Reviewer Award for six consecutive years (2020–2025). On the industrial front, Dr. Zhang has led the design of three sets of industrial fluidized bed reactors. As the second key contributor to technology translation, he delivered two landmark achievements—the large-scale silicon-carbon anode manufacturing technology and the green aviation fuel synthesis (CO2AF™) technology, which were respectively selected for the 2020 and 2022 editions of the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Forum.
