AICHE SLS 10th Anniversary Speakers 

Tushar Poddar

4th AIChE-SLS President

Tushar, carries over 45 years strong professional experience from multinational companies viz, L’AIR Liquide – Paris & India; Shell-Hauge & Brunei; Bechtel-USA; IHI- USA & Japan; SembCorp Industries- Singapore etc. His holistic domain experience and competency is firmly anchored to global Energy & Infrastructure Industries. Professional journey crossed over important milestones, viz, Engineering Manager, Director project, Board Member, etc.

Several Industry-focused high-quality publications are cited in reputed journals and presented international Conferences. He is a member of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Committee, Gastech Conference Committee, Singapore LNG Bunkering Society, H2 & Fuel Cell Society of Singapore, IPI-Enterprise Singapore Tech Expert, etc. He has been the member of AICHE over 40 years, He is the past of AICHE – Global Local Sec on commi ee and AICHE- SLS. His contributions in AICHE and AICHE -SLS have been commendable. Currently he serves as Advisor/Strategic Consultant in a few companies; and mentor/promote Startups spin off NUS and NTU.

AICHE SLS 10th Anniversary Speakers 

Avijeet Mishra

NUS AIChE Student Chapter President

Avijeet Mishra is a Chemical Engineering undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and currently serves as President and Head of the 11th Management Committee of the NUS AIChE Student Chapter since July 2024. Founded in 2014 as Singapore’s first AIChE-recognized student chapter, NUS AIChE is at the forefront of professional development and global outreach for chemical engineering students at NUS. Under Avi’s leadership, the chapter’s impact has grown by over 200%, connecting over 200 students and professionals through various engagements and forging first-of-their-kind partnerships with global corporations such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Georg Fischer Piping Systems. An advocate for amplifying voices in underrepresented areas, Avi also used his platform to spearhead landmark initiatives like the AIChE Women in STEM series—the first of its kind in NUS Chemical Engineering. Today, NUS AIChE has positioned itself as a dynamic, connected and progressive community of passionate students driving excellence in chemical engineering education and industry engagement.

AICHE SLS 10th Anniversary Speakers 

Chi-Hwa Wang

3rd AIChE-SLS President

Dr. Chi-Hwa Wang is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore. He received his PhD degree (in Chemical Engineering) from Princeton University. His current research interests include particle technology, drug delivery, biomass gasification, and waste to energy and resource. He serves in the editorial board/international advisory board of the following Elsevier journals: Applied Energy, Journal of Controlled Release, Powder Technology, Advanced Powder Technology (also Executive Editor 2009-2013) and Chemical Engineering Science (Executive Editor 2013-2022). Chi-Hwa is the recipient of a few awards such as AIChE Shining Star Award 2016, WSSET (World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies) Award 2017, Bologna, Italy, 2017, AIChE Shell Thomas Baron Award, Pittsburgh, USA, 2018, AIChE Fellow 2019, WSSET Fellow 2020, Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher 2023, 2024.  Chi-Hwa is among one of the earliest volunteers to set up the AIChE Singapore Local Section.  He served as the third President for AIChE-Singapore Local Section during the period 2016-2018.

AICHE SLS 10th Anniversary Speakers 

Raymond Lau

5th AIChE-SLS President

Dr. Raymond Lau is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Dr. Lau’s research primarily focuses on multiphase flow, where he studies the hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer properties between gas-liquid and gas-liquid-solid systems. His recent projects include the design of reactors for microalgae cultivation for protein production, dehydrogenation of liquid organic hydrogen carrier, and conversion of biomass to low emission fuels.

Dr. Lau has been actively involved in professional organizations and have served as the President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) – Singapore Local Section from 2021 to 2023.

AICHE SLS 10th Anniversary Speakers 

Lucas Ng Hong Kiang

2nd AIChE-SLS President

Er. Lucas Ng Hong Kiang is a distinguished chemical engineer with over four decades of experience in the hydrocarbon processing industry. He began his career at the Port of Singapore Authority in 1980 before joining Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (PCS) in 1984. At PCS, he held various roles, culminating in his appointment as General Manager of Plant in July 2004. In this capacity, Er. Ng oversaw operations at PCS’s Ayer Merbau facilities on Jurong Island, supporting numerous downstream companies. He retired from PCS on December 31, 2023, after nearly 40 years of service.

Er. Ng is a registered Professional Engineer (Chemical) with the Professional Engineers Board Singapore and a Chartered Engineer (Chemical and Process) with The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES). He has been instrumental in promoting workplace safety and health, process safety management, asset reliability, energy efficiency, and water conservation within the industry.

Throughout his career, Er. Ng has actively contributed to various institutions and committees. He serves as Chair for both the Chemical Standards Committee and the Jurong Island Vision Zero (Cluster) Working Group. Additionally, he co-chairs the Pro-Tem Committee for Hydrogen on standards and the Chemical and Process Engineering Technical Committee of IES. His involvement extends to academic institutions, including membership on the Industry Advisory Boards for Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore and Chemical & Pharmaceutical Engineering at the Singapore Institute of Technology. He was the 2^nd AIChE-SLS President.

Er. Ng’s dedication to fostering a culture of safety and continuous improvement has left a lasting impact on Singapore’s petrochemical sector.

AICHE SLS 10th Anniversary Speakers 

Kenny Yip

6th AIChE-SLS President

Mr. Kenny Yip is an accomplished chemical engineer with extensive experience in the field of polymer engineering and operations management. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, majoring in Polymer, and his Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University Technology of Malaysia.

A dedicated professional, Mr. Yip has been a Senior Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) since 2005. His leadership skills and commitment to advancing the field were recognized when he was nominated as the President of the AIChE-Singapore Local Section for the 2023-2025 term.

With over 16 years of experience at Mitsui Chemicals, Mr. Yip specialized in Phenol and Bisphenol operations, gaining invaluable knowledge in the chemical manufacturing sector. His career path then led him to Stahl Asia Pacific, where he currently manages operations and supply chain activities focused on specialty coatings for flexible materials.

WCETC Annual General Meeting Plenary speaker

Prof. Guangwen Xu

Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, China

Prof. Guangwen Xu, President/Chair professor of Shenyang University of Chemical Technology (SYUCT). He has been recognized by the election to Royal Academy of Engineering (2022). He has dedicated himself to thermochemical sciences and technologies for more than 30 years and inaugurated the new interdiscipline of Engineering Thermochemistry. He has undertaken tens of national, international and industrial grant projects for scientific researches and technical developments. By far, he has published more than 550 journal articles and two monographs, with a personal h-index of 66 (Scopus). He has granted more than 130 patents including 50 international patents authorized by oversea countries. Innovative technologies developed in his team have widely deployed in more than 15 provincial regions of China and some in Korea, Canada and France for more than 300 industrial installations and research instruments and/or facilities. Up to now, the total economic revenue generated from the technology applications has reached 16 billion RMB, while the technology applications significantly contributed to high-efficiency and clean production of a totally annual economic value about 1000 billion RMB.

Keynote Speaker

Prof. Eilhann E. Kwon

Hanyang University

Prof. Eilhann E. Kwon completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering (Interdisciplinary department between chemical and environmental engineering) at Columbia University in the City of New York, USA in 2008. Immediately following, Prof. Kwon was appointed as Associated Research Scientist at the Earth Engineering Center of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Afterwards, Prof. Kwon returned to South Korea and worked at the Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (2010–2013). Prof. Kwon joined as a faculty member in the Department of Environment and Energy at Sejong University (2013–2021). In 2022, he moved to the Department of Earth Resources and Environmental Engineering at Hanyang University. His research interests are focused on combustion, catalysis, fuel processing, bioenergy, and air pollution controls. He was awarded as Highly Cited Researcher in “cross-field” (2020–2021) and became an academician (Korean Academy of Science and Technology) in 2022. He is a serving as editor of ‘Chemical Engineering Journal’, ‘Materials Science and Energy Technologies’, ‘Environmental Geochemistry and Health’, and ‘biochar’. To date, Prof. Kwon has published about 500 articles in peer-reviewed international SCI(E) journals.

Featured Speaker

Prof. Xiangzhou Yuan

Southeast University, China

Speech: Active learning-empowered engineered biochar for CO2 adsorption capture

Featured Speaker

A/Prof. Cui Quan

Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

Speech: Production of hydrogen-rich syngas from catalytic reforming of biomass gasification tar coupled with in-situ CO2 capture