Our lab focuses on developing integrated solutions across energy, environmental systems, and sustainable materials. This includes wastewater treatment, biofuels, resource recovery, advanced materials, and circular use of waste streams.
Our work is centered on resource recovery and circular systems, transforming waste streams (wastewater, biomass, plastics) into valuable products such as fuels, materials, and chemicals while minimizing environmental impact.
We work with:
Wastewater and biosolids
Agricultural and forestry residues
Waste plastics
Industrial byproducts
Microorganisms
We help partners:
Treat difficult or regulated waste streams (e.g., PFAS-contaminated water)
Recover valuable materials from waste
Develop sustainable fuels and chemicals
Improve process efficiency and reduce emissions
Evaluate and validate emerging technologies
Yes. In some cases we can support analytical testing, process evaluation, and performance validation for new materials, treatment systems, and technologies.
Yes. Our work often spans from laboratory development to pilot-scale systems and field-relevant validation.
Students work on interdisciplinary projects such as:
Designing treatment systems for contaminated water
Developing biofuels from waste-derived feedstocks
Creating sustainable materials from biomass
Running and analyzing thermochemical conversion processes
Students gain hands-on experience in:
Analytical chemistry and instrumentation
Reactor design and operation
Biological and chemical process systems
Data analysis and experimental design
There is increasing pressure to:
Manage waste more sustainably
Reduce environmental contamination
Secure critical materials (like lithium)
Transition to circular and low-carbon systems
Our work directly addresses these challenges.
We are particularly interested in integrating biological, chemical, and thermochemical systems to create more efficient and scalable solutions for energy and environmental applications.
Companies with challenging waste streams or treatment needs
Organizations developing new energy or environmental technologies
Partners interested in resource recovery or circular processes
We are pleased to answer any inquires for:
Speaking requests
Partnerships
Potential Students
Location:
131 Rex St.
Madison Hall
Lafayette, LA, 70503
Contact Dr. Mark Zappi, P.E.
Director of the Energy Institute of Louisiana
Office: 337-482-6686
zappi@louisiana.edu
Madison Hall Room 220A
Contact Ms. Blake Foret
Energy Assessment and Outreach Engineer of the Energy Institute of Louisiana
Madison Hall Room 222B