Yonghong ZHAO, Senior Engineer at SUEZ

About

I started my studies on polymer membranes in 2005 as a Ph.D candidate in Professor You-Yi Xu’s Group in Zhejiang University. In his group, I investigated the effect of amphiphilic hyperbranched polymers on the structure and properties of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes. Upon graduation, I worked in Professor Renbi Bai’s group as a Research Fellow in National University of Singapore, where I focused my research on how surface charges affected membrane fouling potentials. Thereafter, I was offered a postdoctoral research associate position from Professor Daniel Shantz’s group in Texas A&M University, working on a project founded by the US Department of Energy, in which we explored the feasibility of using organic-inorganic hybrid membranes for biofuel separations.

My research work was reported in peer-reviewed journals, such as, Journal of Membrane Science, Langmuir, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, etc., and those work has been cited internationally for more than 960 times so far. A full list of my publications could be found here: https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?user=yGqLVdkAAAAJ&hl=en

In the end of 2011, thanks to the training on polymer synthesis during my Ph.D and postdoctoral studies, I was hired by GE Water (acquired by SUEZ Water in Oct 2017) as a Lead Technologist working on the development of ion-exchange membranes, supporting the global E-Separation business. Eight patent applications had been filed worldwide, and one of them had been granted. Several new generation ion-exchange membrane products had been commercialized, to which I was one of the key contributors.

I am pursuing a technical career path, with a passion of becoming an internationally recognized expert in E-Separation technologies.

On a personal side, I am a running enthusiast. I had attended several half marathon events and the best result I achieved was 2 hour 23 minutes. I am not a big fan of speed, with a belief of “run slowlier, run further”.

Industry experience

Education: PhD

Seniority: Expert, Engineer, Consultant

Years of experience: 5 to 10 years

Work experience

Taxonomy