NTU-CEE Seminar Series: Assistant Professor YANG Xing

Organized By

CEE Seminar Committee

Host By

Assistant Professor She Qianhong

Topic

High Performance Ion Exchange Membranes for Recovery of Target Molecules

About the Seminar

The MEMSuS Group at KU Leuven focuses on process intensification for designing low-emission and energy efficient separation systems utilizing functional membranes and separation units. The hybridisation of separation processes (e.g., membrane, electrochemistry, extraction, and chromatography) based on the purification demands is the key to design membranes and processes for sustainable and energy efficient solutions, assisted by experimental and multi-scale numerical modelling. The aim is to tackle technical challenges in the Health-Environment-Resource (HER) Nexus under the Circular Economy Initiatives, targeting applications in the domains of bioseparation, resource recovery and water purification.

This presentation will highlight recent work on the development of ion exchange membranes applied in the respective domain in ion resource recovery and downstream protein purification. Aiming to overcome the classical trade-off between permeability and selectivity, the roles of membrane characteristics are critically analyzed with respect to specific applications. The separation mechanisms are elucidated via the combination of morphological/chemical analysis and modelling, suggesting the main design principals of selective ion exchange membranes.

About the Speaker

Prof. Yang is the leader of Membrane Engineering for Sustainable Solutions (MEMSuS) group in the Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven (University of Leuven, Belgium). She is a trained Chemical Engineer through her Bachelor study in Zhejiang University (China), Master in Chinese Academy of Sciences and PhD in Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). She holds prestigious awards such as the 2020 Class of Influential Researchers by ACS I&EC Research, the Odysseus grant by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) in Belgium, and European Research Council Starting Grant.

She is currently the associate editor of Journal of Water Process Engineering, and the editorial board member of Desalination Journal and was an early Career Editorial Board (ECBE) member of Journal of Membrane Science. Prof. Yang has strong expertise in the field of membrane separation and purification technology, focusing on the development of functional membrane materials and integrated separation systems in interdisciplinary areas such as biopharmaceutical, energy and environmental applications, by combining the power of experimental and multi-scale numerical modelling.

Registration

Click  here for registration
(Registration closes on 11 August 2025)