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Biography
I am a research fellow in the Low Carbon Energy and Resources Technologies Research Group.
I obtained my undergraduate degree (University of Malaya in Malaysia), master's degree (National Taiwan University in Taiwan) and PhD degree (University of Nottingham (UoN) in the UK) in Chemical Engineering.
My PhD study at the UoN (UK) focused on the extraction of plant-based bio-flocculant from okra pods by using hydrothermal and microwave heating methods followed by the characterisation of its bio-flocculating property for the application in wastewater treatment and sludge dewatering. My study led to the publication of two review papers, one modeling paper and four research papers in peer-reviewed international journals.
I was a senior engineer at the Nano & Advanced Materials Institute Limited in Hong Kong for 1.5 years. I was responsible for a massive industry-funded project to develop, operate and optimise 3 systems: (1) nanobubble ozone oxidation system (50 L) for the treatment of textile wastewater focusing on removal of colour and chemical oxygen demand (COD), (2) nanobubble ozone oxidation system (80 L) for the sanitisation of river water focusing on the removal of E.coli and total bacteria, (3) continuous-mode (40 ml/min sewage input) nanobubble mixed bed biofilm reactor system for the treatment of sewage focusing on removal of COD, ammonia and total nitrogen. A patent was generated from this work.
Subsequently, I worked as an Upstream Process Engineering Scientist for 3 years at the UoN (UK) in developing a continuous hydrothermal process that combined low-temperature supercritical water gasification (SCWG) at 430 °C and in-situ synthesis of nano-catalyst in one process for continuous hydrogen generation with different types of biomass wastewater as the feedstock with residence time at 20 seconds only. Two papers from this study were published in the top-ranking Chemical Engineering Journal and another two papers were published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy and Biomass & Bioenergy. I managed to secure EPSRC-SuperGen Flexible funding as the principal investigator and it led to another industry-funded feasibility study with me as the co-investigator. Since Sept 2022, I am a Research Fellow at the UoN (UK) working on an EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships project in collaboration with Mitsubishi Chemical UK and another industry project funded by Halocycle UK focusing on polymethyl methacrylate waste recycling and decomposition of polyvinyl chloride waste with microwave pyrolysis technology.
Recent Publications
MOHAMED ADAM, NICKLAS HJALMARSSON, CHAI SIAH LEE, DEREK J. IRVINE, JOHN ROBINSON and ELEANOR BINNER, 2024. Understanding microwave interactions with polymers to enable advanced plastic chemical recycling Polymer Testing. 137, 108483 SARAH RODGERS, ALEXANDER BOWLER, LAURA WELLS, CHAI SIAH LEE, MARTIN HAYES, STEPHEN POULSTON, EDWARD LESTER, FANRAN MENG, JON MCKECHNIE and ALEX CONRADIE, 2024. A surrogate model for the economic evaluation of renewable hydrogen production from biomass feedstocks via supercritical water gasification International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 49, 277-294 ANDREW JAMES WELFLE, ALBERTO ALMENA, MUHAMMAD NAVEED ARSHAD, SCOTT WILLIAM BANKS, ISABELA BUTNAR, KATIE JANE CHONG, SAMUELJ.G. COOPER, HELEN DALY, SAMIRA GARCIA FREITES, FATIH GÜLEÇ, CHRISTOPHER HARDACRE, ROBERT HOLLAND, LAN LAN, CHAI SIAH LEE, PETER ROBERTSON, REBECCA ROWE, ANITA SHEPHERD, NATHAN SKILLEN, SILVIA TEDESCO, PATRICIA THORNLEY, PEDRO VERDÍA BARBARÁ, IAN WATSON, ORLA SIONED AINE WILLIAMS and MIRJAM RÖDER, 2023. Sustainability of bioenergy – Mapping the risks & benefits to inform future bioenergy systems Biomass and Bioenergy. 177, 106919