Overseas visitors (May 2015 - September 2016)

Since Taka relocated from Australia to Japan in May 2016, many colleagues and professors have visited in Nagasaki to catch up with me. I wanted to thank them on the first anniversary of my relocation, but there's been quite a bit of delays. See below the list and their photos.

8th - 9th September 2016     Prof. Da-Ming Wang (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)

26th April 2016     Prof. Takeshi Matsuura (Ottawa University, Canada)

 

16th - 18th November 2015 

Prof. Mikel Duke & Prof. Stephen Gray (Victoria University, Australia)
Research collaboration meeting.

 

13th - 15th November 2015

Hokyong Shon (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia)
2nd NU membrane workshop

 

22th - 26th July 2015

Long Nghiem (University of Wollongong, Australia)
1st NU Membrane workshop.

A seminar from National Taiwan University

On 9th Sep, we had a guest from National Taiwan University - Prof. Da-Ming Wang. He is a professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. He is also a member of the R&D Center for Membrane Technology in Chung Yuan University, Taiwan and currently a visiting professor of the Center for Membrane and Film Technology in Kobe University, Japan. His main research interests include fabrication of polymeric membranes, membrane separation techniques, and biomaterials. He also serves as one of the editors of the Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan and an editorial board member of the Journal of Taiwanese Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He presented an interesting topic about the mass transport during membrane formation. His research group has developed a method by using the FTIR microscopy to investigate the change in concentrations of polymer, solvent, and nonsolvent in the casting solution during membrane formation. Then, the composition path on the ternary phase diagram of polymer, solvent, and nonsolvent can be constructed. With the technique, they were able to obtain information such as the time that the solution composition in a position of the cast film needed to reach the phase separation region, what the solution composition was as phase separation occurred, and the time the solution stayed in the metastable region (in between binodal and spinodal).

10th Conference of Aseanian Membrane Society (AMS10)

Taka attended and gave a presentation at the 10th Conference of Aseanian Membrane Society (AMS10) which was held in Nara from 26th to 29th  July 2016.

Prior to the AMS conference we had one extra day with some delegates from Australia to expand our research networking with local organisations including Kyoto Uni and Nitto/Hydranautics (& to learn Japanese culture).

Delegates traveling from Kyoto to Nara after a long meeting in Shiga - Taka, Long (University of Wollongong, AUS), Stephen Gray (Victoria University, AUS), Shon Hokyong (University of Technology, Sydney, AUS).

Taka gave a presentation of his preliminary study titled with "Effects of Fouling and Chemical Cleaning on N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) Rejection by RO membranes" at a conference room with a very traditional appearance below, while no colleagues took photos during his presentation...

 

  Opening ceremony at the AMS conference dinner.

The event seemed to have over 400 (500?) delegates from Asia and Oceania, and that is definitely one of the largest membrane-related event in Japan over the last few years and the venue - Nara Kasugano International Forum - which is located in the middle of Nara park was great. It was also a great opportunity to catch up with quite a few colleagues. The next event will be held in Australia.

 Prof. Bart Van der Bruggen (K.U.Leuven, Belgium), Taka (Nagasaki Uni), and Dr. Zongli Xie (CSIRO, AUS) - from left to right.

Deer & Nami at Nara park.

E-JUST

Professor Ahmed El-Gohary, the president of Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology <E-JUST>, Egypt, visited in our pilot-scale water recycling plant (MBR & RO) today. There seems to be engineering opportunities in water reuse for agricultural irrigation in Egypt, and let's hope we have some projects in collaboration with E-JUST in the near future!

 

12th World Filtration Congress

Reporter: Anioke George Obinna, Master student, Nagasaki University
Conference title: 12th World Filtration Congress
Venue: Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) and Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1 (TWTC), Taipei
Date: April 11 – 15, 2016



First of all, I would like to acknowledge Japan international cooperation Agency (JICA) and my supervisor Takahiro Fujioka for giving me this ample opportunity to attend this 12th World filtration congress, which was held at Taipei international convention center(TICC) and Taipei world trade center exhibition hall 1 (TWTC) from April 11 – 15, 2016. 12th world filtration congress (WFC 12), a scientific committee aims to serve as a platform for all professionals to discuss the latest findings and state-of-the-art technologies in filtration industry, creating opportunities for young scholars to participate in international academic activities, as well as stimulate commercial activities and industrial development. The committee made a great effort to arrange 6 plenary lectures, 18 keynote lectures, 10 special sessions, 4 short courses, and also recruited 361 papers from 25 countries. On the other hand, up to 158 exhibition booths from 115 companies coming from 14 countries were presented. The conference was well attended.

As a master student in Nagasaki University, it was a very enriching experience for me to attend this conference. My objective was to abreast myself of the latest development and state-of-the-art technologies in membrane filtration and separation which will help in my research work in the University. I registered for short course III (membrane filtration and separation) which is one of the four short courses offered in the conference. At the end of the course I was able to gain more knowledge in the latest development in membrane filtration and separation principles, membrane formation and preparation, membrane modification and characterization and most importantly membrane fouling and mitigation; anti fouling reverse osmosis membrane, improved fouling reduction of membrane by incorporation with electro-coagulation in membrane bioreactor, biofouling control  by Quorum quenching bacteria entrapping media in membrane bioreactor. Also the exhibition of the state-of-the-art technologies in the filtration industry avail me of the opportunity to meet and exchange contacts with stakeholders in the industry.

Finally, I feel that attending WFC 12 really helped me a lot and I learnt different things. My objectives were fully met and the courses provided a valuable learning experience for me and I recommend that engineers should endeavor to attend the next one. I really appreciate the support of JICA and my supervisor for making it a success for me.