{"id":340,"date":"2023-10-31T01:49:49","date_gmt":"2023-10-31T01:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/?page_id=340"},"modified":"2026-04-17T19:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:46:20","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/?page_id=340","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #cc0000\">Research<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">My research program is dedicated to developing system-level strategies to transform food systems toward sustainability, which demands rigorous evaluation of both existing supply chains and emerging innovations. Leveraging process simulation, life-cycle assessment (LCA), technoeconomic analysis (TEA), and sustainability analysis, my group generates actionable insights into different approaches for advancing the sustainability of food systems.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #cc0000\">Motivations<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2024\/09\/GHG.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-425 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2024\/09\/GHG-300x191.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"191\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2024\/09\/GHG-300x191.png 300w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2024\/09\/GHG-1024x651.png 1024w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2024\/09\/GHG-768x488.png 768w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2024\/09\/GHG-1536x977.png 1536w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2024\/09\/GHG-2048x1302.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\">Feeding 10 billion people sustainably by 2050 requires <span style=\"color: #cc0000\"><strong>&gt;50% <\/strong><\/span><\/span>increase<span style=\"color: #000000\"> in food production<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Current agri-food production demands <span style=\"color: #000000\"><strong><span style=\"color: #cc0000\">significant<\/span><\/strong> natural resource inputs<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Food system is responsible for approximately <span style=\"color: #000000\"><strong><span style=\"color: #cc0000\">1\/3<\/span><\/strong> of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">mpty sentence for the blank purpose<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #cc0000\">Theme 1: Enhancing resilience of existing food systems<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Current food systems are challenged to provide sufficient and nutritious food while minimizing their environmental impacts. Accelerating decarbonization in the food and beverage industry is critical to reducing GHG emissions, as this sector accounts for approximately one-third of total anthropogenic emissions globally. To enhance the resilience of today&#8217;s food system, we have been exploring various strategies as listed below.<\/p>\n<h6>Completed projects:<\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Cost and environmental impact analysis of non-thermal processing technologies in food industry. (Role: PI. Funding agency: USDA NIFA. 2023-2024).<\/em><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left\">Wang* and Yang*, 2025. <a style=\"background-color: #ffffff\" href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/sustainable-food-systems\/articles\/10.3389\/fsufs.2025.1585467\/full\">DOI: 10.3389\/fsufs.2025.1585467<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Integration of biogas upgrading and CO2 mineralization for sustainable production. (Role: Co-PI. Funding agency: DOE. 2024-2025)<\/strong><\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Liaqat et al., 2026. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/su18052296\">DOI: 10.3390\/su18052296<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6>Ongoing projects:<\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li>Comparative sustainability analysis of waste valorization pathways. (Role: PI. Funding agency: USDA NIFA and CAPPS. 2024-2026)\n<ul>\n<li>Integrated valorization of food waste via anaerobic digestion and carbon capture and utilization offers sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to landfilling.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-583 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/12\/images_medium_rm5c00327_0008.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"204\" \/>.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Wine and Yang*, 2025. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1021\/acssusresmgt.5c00327\">DOI: 10.1021\/acssusresmgt.5c00327<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Sustainability roadmap for the food industry. (Role: PI. Sponsor: Alamance Food Inc. 2024-2027)<\/li>\n<li>Cold chain management of fluid milk. (Role: Co-PI. Funding agency: NC Agricultural Foundation. 2025\/01-2027\/12)<\/li>\n<li>Cold plasma innovations in drying pretreatment. (Role: Co-PI. Funding agency: USDA NIFA. 2025\/09-2028\/08)<\/li>\n<li>Optimization of recirculated produce wash systems. (Role: Co-PI. Funding agency: USDA Specialty Crop Block Program. 2026\/01-2028\/06)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #cc0000\">Theme 2: Innovative approaches for protein production<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond improving the sustainability of today\u2019s food systems, we are actively shaping the future of food through innovation in novel food production, with a particular focus on sustainable proteins. To illuminate the path forward, we perform in-depth sustainability analyses of both conventional animal proteins and emerging alternative proteins.<\/span><\/p>\n<h6>Completed project:<\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>Nutrition-based LCA of animal-source foods. (Role: PI. Funding agency: NCSU Animal Health &amp; Nutrition Consortium. 2024-2025)<\/strong><\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Prior LCA studies heavily focused on quantifying environmental footprints based on physical units, with less attention on the nutritional value of foods. This project aims to assess the nutritional-based environmental impacts of five pork and beef products via nutrition-based LCA (nLCA) approach.<a href=\"http:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-9.49.56-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-534\" src=\"http:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-9.49.56-PM-e1755050140135-300x83.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"165\" srcset=\"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-9.49.56-PM-e1755050140135-300x83.png 300w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-9.49.56-PM-e1755050140135-1024x282.png 1024w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-9.49.56-PM-e1755050140135-768x211.png 768w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-9.49.56-PM-e1755050140135-1536x423.png 1536w, https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/files\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-9.49.56-PM-e1755050140135.png 1900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Atkare et al., 2026. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1021\/acssusresmgt.5c00327\">DOI:<\/a><a class=\"anchor doi anchor-primary\" title=\"Persistent link using digital object identifier\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.spc.2025.12.008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Persistent link using digital object identifier\"><span class=\"anchor-text-container\"><span class=\"anchor-text\">10.1016\/j.spc.2025.12.008<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h6>Ongoing projects:<\/h6>\n<ul>\n<li>Life-cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) for plant proteins. (Role: PI. Funding agency: USDA NIFA. 2024\/08-2027\/07)<\/li>\n<li>ML-based LCA\/TEA for sustainable proteins. (Role: PI. Funding agency: Bezos Center for Sustainable Proteins at NC State. 2024-2029)<\/li>\n<li>Improving P footprint in sustainable proteins. (Role: Co-PI. Funding agency: STEPS Center. 2025\/10-2026\/10)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research My research program is dedicated to developing system-level strategies to transform food systems toward sustainability, which demands rigorous evaluation of both existing supply chains&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10403,"featured_media":0,"parent":320,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-340","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/340\/revisions\/625"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodsustainability.wordpress.ncsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}