Project

• 2025/9-Now,  Guangdong Pearl River Talent (广东省引进高层次人才); 

• 2025/1-2027/12, PI, Coastal Biofouling Induced by Acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) - based Quorum Sensing: Mechanisms and Control, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Amount: 300,000 CNY, 4240060200;

• 2023/11-2026/10, PI, Diffusible signaling factor (DSF)-based quorum quenching (QQ) for membrane fouling control in anaerobic membrane bioreactors, Ministry of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, Amount: 100,000 CNY, 2023A1515110786;

• 2024/1-2025/12, Co-PI, Development and Application of Efficient and Low Consumption Wastewater Treatment Process Based on Artificial Intelligence, Ministry of Science and Technology of PRC, Amount: 300,000 CNY, G2023111002L;

• 2023/2-2026/1, PI, Low-energy-consumption membrane processes for water treatment, Beijing Normal University, Young Leading Talent, Amount: 500,000 CNY.

• 2025-2027, Lead Executor, Zhuhai Desalination Project Pilot-Scale Test Research Program (Phase I), Zhuhai Municipal People’s Government, Amount: 4, 980, 400 CNY. 

• 2021/3-2023/2, Research Fellow, Investigation of lower energy consumption for seawater pretreatment using flat-sheet ceramic membrane with the impact of algae bloom, PUB-1901-0021, Public Utilities Board, Singapore’s National Water Agency, Amount: 819, 336 SGD.

Selected Papers

1. Making Waves: Beyond Adoption of Foundation Models - Charting LLM-agents for Intelligent Wastewater Treatment Plants

B Xu, N Fan, Z Li, G Xu, Q Su, Z Yuan*, HY Ng*, Under Review

2. Synergistic Fouling Mitigation of Co-contaminants of Ultrafine Microplastics and Organic in Seawater Pretreatment Using Ferrous Iron/Peracetic Acid

Z Li, B Xu*, A Hao, SK Hong, HY Ng*

Water Research, 286,124227, 2025 (Nature Index Journal)

3. Quorum Quenching in Membrane Bioreactors for Fouling Retardation: Complexity Provides Opportunities

B Xu, Q Su, Y Yang, S Huang, Y Yang, X Shi, KH Choo, HY Ng, CH Lee

Environmental Science & Technology, 2024, 58, 30, 13171–13193 (Nature Index Journal)

4. Effect of quorum quenching on EPS and size-fractioned particles and organics in anaerobic membrane bioreactor for domestic wastewater treatment

B Xu, TCA Ng, S Huang, HY Ng

Water Research, 179, 115850, 2020 (Nature Index Journal)

5. Evaluating and Advancing Large Language Models for Water Knowledge Tasks in Engineering and Research

B Xu, Z Li, Y Yang, G Wu, X Tang, Y Li, Z Wu, Q Su, X Shi, Y Yang, ...

Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 2025, 12, 3, 289–296

6. Feasibility of isolated novel facultative quorum quenching consortiums for fouling control in an AnMBR

B Xu, TCA Ng, S Huang, X Shi, HY Ng

Water Research, 169, 115251, 2020 (Nature Index Journal)

7. Enriched autoinducer-2 (AI-2)-based quorum quenching consortium in a ceramic anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) for biofouling retardation

B Xu, QAC Cho, TCA Ng, S Huang, HY Ng

Water Research, 214, 118203, 2022 (Nature Index Journal)

8. Novel use of ferrous iron/peroxymonosulfate for high-performance seawater desalination pretreatment under harmful algal blooms

B Xu, X Lu, Y Fu, L Diao, H Liang, S Bae, HY Ng, J Ma

Water Research, 247, 120758, 2023 (Nature Index Journal)

9. Sustainable High-Flux Ceramic Membrane Operations for Seawater Pretreatment under Diverse Algal Bloom Intensities 

B Xu, M Ding, KM Tan, RL Tan, TCA Ng, LY Lee, N Hiroshi, N Terutake, S Bae, HY Ng

Water Research, 123879, 2025. (Nature Index Journal)

10. Formation and Fate of Reactive Nitrogen during Biological Nitrogen Removal from Water: Important Yet Often Ignored Chemical Aspects of the Nitrogen Cycle

Q Su, C Domingo-Felez, M Zhi, M Jensen, B Xu*, HY Ng*, B Smets.

Environmental Science & Technology, 2024, 58, 51, 22480–22501 (Nature Index Journal)

11. Towards Domain-adapted Large Language Models for Water and Wastewater Management: Methods, Datasets and Benchmarking

B Xu, G Wu, Z Li, G Xu*, H Zeng, R Tong, HY Ng*

npj Clean Water, 2025, 8, 82

12. A novel long short-term memory artificial neural network (LSTM)-based soft-sensor to monitor and forecast wastewater treatment performance

B Xu, CK Pooi, KM Tan, S Huang, X Shi, HY Ng

Journal of Water Process Engineering, 54, 104041, 2023

13. Significance of integrated therapy of biological and physical cleaning for biofouling control and energy saving in AnMBRs

B Xu, Y Yang, H Zhang, S Huang, Q Su, V Naddeo, HY Ng

Chemical Engineering Journal, 489, 151096, 2024

14. Integration of CaO2/Fe2+ and ultrafiltration acts as multiple-workfunctions pretreatment for seawater desalination during harmful algal blooms

B Xu, Y Fu, X Lu, Z Li, M He, WJ Teo, W Song, LD Nghiem, S Bae, HY Ng

Desalination, 587, 117908, 2024

15. Underestimation of Extracellular Lipid Contribution to Fouling in Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors

B Xu, TCA Ng, S Huang, M He, K Lee, HY Ng

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 11 (7), 3036-3043, 2023

16. Quorum quenching affects biofilm development in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR): from macro to micro perspective

B Xu, TCA Ng, S Huang, M He, S Varjani, HY Ng

Bioresource Technology, 344, 126183, 2022

17. Evaluation and comparison of the microbial consortia enriched by gamma-caprolactone and N-Acyl homoserine lactones for effective quorum sensing disruption

B Xu, TCA Ng, S Huang, S Varjani, HY Ng

International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, 159, 105200, 2021

18. Hybrid model composed of machine learning and ASM3 predicts performance of industrial wastewater treatment

B Xu, CK Pooi, TS Yeap, KY Leong, XY Soh, S Huang, X Shi, G Mannina, ...

Journal of Water Process Engineering, 65, 105888, 2024

19. Engineered Crown-Ether–Functionalized Hydrogels Enable Selective Ammonium Extraction

M He, B Xu*, TCA Ng, WJ Teo, S Huang, Q Su, X Shi, HY Ng* 

Langmuir, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c02999

20. Stability and Durability of Polymeric Membranes in Membrane Bioreactors for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Q Su, Y Zhong*, CJ Rui, M Ding, TCA Ng, B Xu*, HY Ng, 

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering,13, 6, 120356, 2025 

21. From Waste to Wealth: Exploring the Effect of Particle Size on Biopolymer Harvesting from Aerobic Granular Sludge

H Zhang, R Zhang, Y Du, S Huang, F Zhao, D Kim, HY Ng, X Shi*, B Xu*

Bioresource Technology, 418, 131977, February 2025.

Other Papers in Nature Index Journal

1. Analysis of N-Acy-L-homoserine lactones (AHLs) in wastewater treatment systems using SPE-LLE with LC-MS/MS

S Huang, H Zhang, TCA Ng, B Xu, X Shi, HY Ng

Water Research 177, 115756, 2020

2. Alleviation of RO membrane fouling in wastewater reclamation plants using an enhanced acid-base chemical cleaning method

L Zihao, J Wang, L Cheng, Q Yang, P Li, X Dong, B Xu, M Zhi, A Hao, ...

Water Research 261, 122039, 2024

3. Molecular insights into dye decolorization performance and mechanisms under carbon limited conditions in a membrane aeration-based bioelectrochemical system

T Wang, J Yin, J Yang, B Xu, W Gong, Z Ke, L Hu, H Zhang, G Li, H Liang, ...

Water Research 277, 123325, 2025

4. Enhanced Decontamination in Mn (II)/Periodate Systems with EDTA: Mechanistic Insights into Self-Accelerating Degradation of Pollutants

X Lu, Y Yue, S Deng, B Xu, Z Zeng, X Wang, G Lv, Q Jiang, H Xiao, ...

Environmental Science & Technology 2025, 59, 27, 14170–14181

5. Biofilm Response in Potential Difference-Enhanced Membrane-Aerated Biofilm Systems for Accelerated Antibiotic Removal and ARG Mitigation

H Zhang, H Jiang, J Yin, T Wang, W Zeng, D Lin, B Xu, L Bai, H Liang, ...

Water Research 124154, 2025

6. Marine quorum quenching consortium for biofouling control in membrane bioreactor under salinity stress

W Song, C Wan, Z Ding, B Xu, P Zhao, X Wang, HY Ng

Water Research 124271, 2025

7. A novel carbon-negative side-stream MBMBR process for municipal wastewater reclamation driven by biopolymer and nutrient recovery

H Zhang, Y Zhang, L Li, C Liu, S Huang, T Yu, DH Kim, S Kang, B Xu, ...

Water Research 124377, 2025

Selected Book Chapters

1.  Decarbonization potentials in intensified water and wastewater systems using membrane-related technologies

B Xu, S Huang, C Wang, TCA Ng, HY Ng

Pathways to Water Sector Decarbonization, Carbon Capture and Utilization, 187, 2022

2.  Challenges and opportunities for anaerobic membrane bioreactors

TCA Ng, B Xu, HY Ng

Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2020, Pages 55-77

3.  Fundamentals of aerobic membrane bioreactors

TCA Ng, M He, B Xu, C Wang, HY Ng

Current Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2020, Pages 25-44

Service

• Member of Program Committee and Session Chairman, 11th IWA Membrane Technology Conference (MTC 2025), Daegu, South Korea

• Chairman of technical session, “How To Go Digital As A Water Utility”, IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition, 11-15 Aug. 2024, Toronto, Canada.

• Chairman of technical session, "Innovative Technologies in Waste Management", 3RINCs 2025, 11-13 May, 2025, Jeju, Republic of Korea

• Member of Scientific Committee and Session Chairman, 7th IWA Regional Membrane Technology Conference, Palermo, Italy, 2024

• Member of Organization Committee and Session Chairman, the 7th International Conference on Water Cycle, Chengdu, China, 2024

• Participator, QS global academic survey for World University Rankings, 2024 and 2025

• Guest Editor, Special Issue,  Towards Sustainable Blue Economy: Eutrophication, Biofouling, and Marine Environmental Technologies, Frontiers in Marine Science, 2025.

• Guest Editor, Special Issue,  Sustainable Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery, Toxics, 2024.

• Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Science and Engineering, 2024 - Present

Supervised/Co-Advised Research Students / Staff

1. Guangming Xu (Postdoctoral scholar), 2025 - now

2. Zihao Li (PhD student), 2023 - now

3. Xuyin Yang (PhD student), 2024 - now

4. Anni Hao (PhD student), 2025 - now

5. Xiaohang Han (PhD student), 2025 - now

6. Ning Fan (master student), 2023 - now

7. Huan Qin (master student), 2024 - now