research
Research Statement (Link)
Research Statement (Link)
Zhong, J., Yu E., et al. 2018. Effect of Land Use Change for Bioenergy Production on Feedstock Cost and Water Quality. Applied Energy, 210: 580-590
Zhong, J., Yu E., et al. 2016. Analysis of Environmental and Economic Tradeoffs in Switchgrass Supply Chains for Biofuel Production. Energy, 107: 791-803
Ge, Z., Wan, H., Zhong, J., et al. 2014. Emission of CH4, N2O and NH3 from Vegetable Field Applied with Animal Manure Composts. Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 15(10): 2205-2213
Zhong, J., Wei, Y., et al. 2013. Greenhouse Gas Emission from the Process of Swine Manure Composting and Land Application of Compost. Atmospheric Environment, 81: 348-355
Zhong, J., Wei, Y., et al. 2013. Emissions of Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia from the Total Process of Sewage Sludge Composting and Land Application of Compost. Environmental Science, 34(11): 4186-94 (Chinese)
Zhong, J., Wei, Y., et al. 2011. Impact of Socioeconomic Development on Groundwater in Yongding River and Wenyu River Watersheds. Acta Scientiae Circumstantiae, 31(9): 1826-1834 (Chinese)
Yu, T.E., B.C. English, J. Zhong, J.A. Larson, J.S. Fu, L. He-Lambert, and B. Wilson. 2021. “High-resolution Multi-objective Optimization of Sustainable Supply Chains for a Large Scale Lignocellulosic Biofuel Industry.” C. Chen, V. Jayaraman, and Y. Chen, ed. Pursuing Sustainability: OR/MS Applications in Sustainable Design, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Resource Management, Springer International Series in Operations Research and Management Science. Book Chapter. In press
Zhong, J. and Khanna M. Assessing the Efficiency Implications of Renewable Fuel Policy Design in the United States (Job Market Paper)
Abstract: The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has failed to achieve its original goal of inducing the consumption of E85 (with up to 74% blend in gasoline) even though the market share of flex-fuel vehicle is significant. Blenders chose to comply with the RFS mandate by increasing the blending of biomass-based biodiesel beyond originally-targeted levels, instead of creating market demand for E85 by pricing E85 at an energy-equivalent level with E10 fuel for flex-fuel vehicle owners in the US. This paper develops a welfare-economic framework and a simulation model to analyze the implications of the design of the RFS (specifically, its nested structure, and the accompanying cellulosic waiver credit and biodiesel tax credit) for the mix of biofuels blended and for social welfare. We show that the RFS’s flexibility for achieving compliance reduced incentives for the higher blend of corn ethanol and cellulosic ethanol and led to an overall blend wall for ethanol. It led to E85 being priced 15 % higher than the energy-equivalent price of E10. The flexibility indeed increases social welfare by $564 million in 2017 relative to otherwise, but it imposed a compliance cost of $ 2.8 billion on taxpayers and marginal effect on the GHG emission reduction. Our analysis informs policymakers about the policy changes needed to overcome the blend wall, to generate demand for second-generation biofuels, and to significantly decrease gasoline consumption in the US.
Ferin, K., Chen L., Zhong J., Khanna M., VanLoocke A. Evaluating the Impact of Economic Policies on Water Quality within the Mississippi River Basin. Environmental Science & Technology (In Review-Submitted)
Chen, L., Debnath D., Zhong J, Ferin K., VanLoocke A., Khanna M. The Economic and Environmental Costs and Benefit of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Environmental Research Letters (In Review-Submitted)
Zhong, J. and Khanna M. Behavioral Determinants of Alternative Fuel Vehicles Choices in the U.S. Transportation Sector
Zhong, J. and Khanna M. Decarbonization of the U.S. Transportation and Implication of Policy Mix