Professor Davide Mattia from the Centre for Advanced Separations Engineering (CASE), together with Professor Ian Metcalfe from Newcastle University, and Professor Kang Li from Imperial College London, recently led a delegation of 15 UK early career researchers (ECRs) to participate in a workshop hosted by Professor Wanqin Jin at Nanjing Tech University in China.
The ECRs were selected thorough a highly competitive process and included two Bath researchers, Dr Bernardo Castro and Dr Jing Ji, lecturer and postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, respectively.
The scope of the workshop was to help UK-based ECRs develop contacts and new collaborations with ECRs in China, where research in membrane science and technology for energy and environmental applications is blossoming.
The workshop covered an impressive range of topics, from hydrogen purification to carbon dioxide capture to water treatment and the recovery and re-use of organic solvents used in the pharmaceutical industry.
Professor Davide Mattia, Associate Dean (Research) in the Department of Chemical Engineering, said: “The Key-state laboratory for materials-oriented chemical engineering at Nanjing Tech is the top membrane research centre in China. They have a long track-record of commercialising novel membrane technology developed by the University, with several spin-off now quoted on the Chinese stock market. We see this workshop as a first step towards developing a virtual UK-China membrane laboratory to exchange researchers and knowledge in this important research and application area.”
Dr Bernardo Castro said: “The workshop fostered the exchange of ideas among UK and Chinese researchers with the purpose of advancing the field of membrane science. Visiting the Membrane Industry Park helped me to put in perspective the future of membrane manufacturability and commerciality.”