A/Prof Linga receives 2019 SCEJ Outstanding Asian Researcher and Engineer Award
Dean’s Chair Associate Professor Linga is one of the recipients of the 2019 SCEJ Outstanding Asian Researcher and Engineer Award. This prestigious award is granted to researchers and/or engineers under the age of 45 who have accomplished outstanding achievements in chemical engineering in Asia.
According to SCEJ, this award is given annually to individuals “who possesses the exceptional vision, achievement and knowledge to inspire others to succeed and to contribute to significant chemical engineering research and technological developments in the field of chemical engineering“. Assoc Prof Linga is the first chemical engineering faculty from Singapore to win this award since its inception in 2011.
“It is indeed a great honour to receive this award and to be recognized by international chemical engineering community. This will further inspire me to innovate and advance research in my field” said Assoc Prof Linga.
Assoc Prof Linga’s research programme in NUS centers on gas (clathrate) hydrates spanning both fundamental and applied research. His targeted applications are seawater desalination, gas storage, data center cooling and carbon capture & storage. The specific focus of his research is to develop methods and to innovate on experimental process design targeted at improving the kinetics of hydrate formation. A part of his research is also focused on energy recovery from natural gas hydrates, pertaining to the development of efficient production methods and tools. He is also recognised internationally for his research on gas hydrate technology for carbon dioxide capture.
Said Assoc Prof Linga “The vision of Linga Lab is to advance hydrate technology as an effective, and feasible solution for the critical needs of clean and safe water, cleaner energy, and environmental stewardship.”
This award recognizes his outstanding research accomplishments in the development of gas hydrate technology for seawater desalination and for natural gas storage. Research driven process and design innovation on enhancing the kinetics of hydrate formation coupled with separation has led to the development of a working prototype for HyDesal (hydrate-based desalination) to produce 12 liters of water per day at Linga Lab.
Another design innovation that was borne from a fundamental finding from his group is the synergistic enhancement of the kinetics of mixed methane hydrates in the presence of tetrahydrofuran. Concerted efforts in his lab has enabled his team to design-build-validate-patent two efficient process designs for SNG (solidified natural gas) technology at Linga Lab. This body of work also led to the spin-off of a start-up company in Singapore, NewGen Gas Pte Ltd.
These two projects were funded in part under the Energy Innovation Research Programme (ERIP), which is administrated by the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF).
For more information about this award: http://www.scej.org/en/awards/scej-award-for-oare.html
For more information about Assoc Prof Linga’s research: https://cde.nus.edu.sg/chbe/staff/chepl/
