Dr.  Cher Hon (Sam)  Lau
University of Edinburgh,  UK

Title: Sustainable Chemical Separations: From polymer synthesis to operation to end-of-life

Abstract:

How much plastic waste can we generate and reuse? What can we do to improve plastic recycling rates? Are we able to create a single solution that tackles 3 key environmental issues – plastic pollution, water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in a single go? This seminar will demonstrate how recent research activities within The Scale-Up Lab at The University of Edinburgh can contribute towards achieving these innovative solutions. The work is based upon transforming plastic waste generated within the University, scaling up the production of these materials underpinned by Green Chemistry concepts and 3D-printing technologies, and validation across research labs around the world.

Biography:

Sam is a Senior Lecturer (U.S. equivalent of Associate Professor) at the School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh. Sam’s background is in materials science, with particular focus on separation applications. He has been active in research on separation science since 2008. He is a graduate of Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Flinders University and The National University of Singapore in various courses ranging from Electronics and Computer Engineering to Nanotechnology to Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research has been commercialized in China and Australia. He has published more than 60 scientific research papers in journals such as Science, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, PNAS etc. His research has been cited more than 5500 times, resulting in a h-index of 39. In his teaching, Sam specialises in Polymer Science and Engineering. He has also been recently awarded a prestigious EPSRC Fellowship to develop photo-responsive materials for resource recovery via desalination.