The Research and Postgraduate Centre congratulates Hong Seang Uyin, Wang Yida, Soh Leong Sing, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yong Wai Fen from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering for the recent article published in Green Chemistry, an SCI Q1 journal with the latest impact factor of 11.034.
Hong Seang Uyin and Wang Yida are the co-first authors of this work. Both Hong Seang Uyin and Soh Leong Sing are master’s students in Chemical Engineering, whereas Wang Yida is a graduate of the class of 2022 who conducted his final year project under the supervision of Dr. Yong Wai Fen.
Entitled “Are green solvents truly green? Integrating life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis for sustainable membrane fabrication”, this study aimed to appraise both environmental and economic perspectives of green solvents in fabricating polyimide flat sheet membranes. This analysis systematically evaluated from monomers to polymer synthesis and subsequently the design of scalable and sustainable membrane production processes. Noticeable impact decrements were spotted by replacing the toxic conventional solvent with a green solvent in membrane fabrication, but a green solvent might be less competitive in terms of production costs. Collectively, this integrated assessment was envisaged to elucidate environmental hotspots and process limitations that are pivotal for future engineering and research endeavors in polyimide membrane fabrication.
This research is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 22108118), Xiamen University Malaysia Research Fund (grant number: XMUMRF/2021-C8/IENG/0042), and Hengyuan International Sdn. Bhd. (grant number: EENG/0003).
https://doi.org/10.1039/D3GC00776F.
This graphical abstract portrays the integration of life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis to examine the impacts of solvent selection and synthesis approaches in polyimide membrane fabrication.
