In 2012, Associate Professor HUANG Bin in research group of Agricultural Ecological Engineering, IAE wrote a patent Modified Activated Sludge-based Two-Compartment Treatment Method for Nitrate-Contaminated Drinking Water and the Device thereof.

The patent got licensing from State Patent Office of China in 2014.

The patent application was handed to US in May 2015. After defenses, the patent was licensed by US authority.