PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Current position: Associate Professor at Xiamen University Malaysia, Malaysia
Research focus: developing sustainable materials and membrane technologies for biogas separation, industrial air purification, haze removal, air quality control, and water treatment
Wai Fen has received multiple prestigious recognitions for her contributions to the fields of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, including the Elias Klein Travel Award and the Emerging Polymer Technologies Summit Travel Award from the North American Membrane Society and The International Innovative Research Network and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia, respectively. She holds patents for her ground-breaking work.
2019 Chartered Engineer from Institute of Chemical Engineers, United Kingdom
CV as submitted for the Green Talents award (2016):
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Research focus: developing sustainable materials and membrane technologies for biogas separation, industrial air purification, haze removal and air quality control
In an urban area like Singapore, sustainability takes on a unique set of challenges in sequestering clean energy sources and managing wastes effectively under distinct spatial constraints. One of the leading approaches to tackling both problems is to find ways to convert wastes into eco-friendly, value-added biogases. An important component of converting organic waste products into usable biogas is to chemically remove any contaminants. In her research, Yong is discovering new and improved ways to perform the process of gas separation, which have fewer drawbacks than traditional methods.
Specifically, Yong is using her molecular knowledge of membranes to develop gas separation mechanisms that produce fewer waste products, use less energy and ultimately leave a lower carbon footprint. Her work in designing and fabricating novel membranes for efficient gas separation has the potential to enrich green energy production in significant ways, particularly in urban areas such as Singapore. Yong extends her expertise to the fields of economics and policy as she works to implement her membrane-based techniques at the industrial level.
Yong earned her PhD from the National University of Singapore in 2014. She has received multiple other prestigious recognitions for her contributions to the fields of chemical and biomolecular engineering including the Elias Klein Travel Award and Emerging Polymer Technologies Summit Travel Award from the North American Membrane Society and The International Innovative Research Network and CSIRO, Australia, respectively. Yong now works as a postdoctoral fellow at her alma mater where she researches membrane development. She has also authored many publications and holds patents for her groundbreaking work.
The jury was impressed not only with Yong’s dedication to finding creative innovations for converting waste into biofuels in environmentally sustainable ways, but also with her willingness to be part of the implementation process at every step of the way.
