On April 2, 2026, Professor Xiaohu Dai from the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tongji University delivered an academic report titled "Innovative Research on Resourceful Treatment of Organic Solid Waste" to faculty and students of our college. The report was held in Conference Room E202 of the Environmental Science Building, hosted by Dean Huan He, with over 50 faculty members and students in attendance.

Professor Xiaohu Dai is a professor at the College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University. He was sent to study in Germany by the State Education Commission in 1987, and returned to China in 2009 as a specially appointed expert under the national high-level talent recruitment program. He served as Dean of the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tongji University from 2012 to 2021, and currently serves as Director of the National Engineering Research Center for Urban Pollution Control. He has successively served as a member of the Sixth Expert Advisory Committee of the Engineering and Materials Science Department of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Vice Chairman of the Environmental, Civil and Hydraulic Engineering Division of the Seventh Science and Technology Committee of the Ministry of Education, a member of the Teaching Guidance Committee for Environmental Science and Engineering Majors in Higher Education Institutions of the Ministry of Education, Deputy Leader of the Expert Panel for the National Key R&D Program's "Solid Waste Resource Recovery" and "Key Technologies and Equipment for Circular Economy" key special projects, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Waste Management Bulletin. He has long been engaged in theoretical and technological research on sewage sludge and organic solid waste resource recovery, publishing over 500 academic papers, including more than 350 SCI-indexed papers, and 5 monographs. He has been selected as a Highly Cited Researcher globally and listed among the World's Top 2% Scientists. He has received the Third National Award for Innovation and Excellence, the 14th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award, the Second Prize of National Teaching Achievement Award, the First Prize of Shanghai Technical Invention Award, the First Prize of Environmental Protection Science and Technology Award, the Gold Medal of International Invention Exhibition, and his research achievements have been selected as one of the Top Ten Scientific and Technological Advances in China's Ecological Environment.

Professor Xiaohu Dai first reviewed his academic career and research trajectory, then delivered an in-depth exposition on the current development status, key bottlenecks, and frontier directions of solid waste treatment and resource recovery in China. At present, China generates massive quantities of solid waste, yet the level of resource utilization remains to be significantly improved. At the national level, dedicated central enterprises have been established and supportive policies introduced to accelerate the transition of waste management from "harmless treatment" toward "resource recovery." He also pointed out critical challenges in solid waste research: the extreme diversity and complex composition of waste streams, the disconnect between academic research and industrial application, and unclear disciplinary positioning. Professor Dai further shared representative achievements from his research team, including high-efficiency, low-consumption solid-liquid separation and dewatering reduction technologies, electric field-substrate coupling for activated anaerobic biological metabolism, and the production of plant hormones from organic solid waste. Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Professor Dai proposed that solid waste resource recovery should prioritize pollution control as a prerequisite while moving toward high-quality, high-value development, emphasizing that the deep integration of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies will reshape research paradigms and industrial operational models.

Following the report, faculty and students from our college engaged in lively exchanges and discussions with Professor Xiaohu Dai on topics including the prospects of sludge anaerobic digestion treatment and resource regeneration, the dialectical application of AI technology in scientific research, and the current status and future directions of emerging contaminant research. This report featured cutting-edge and comprehensive content, providing important inspiration for our faculty and students to deepen research on solid waste resource recovery and expand interdisciplinary thinking.