University of Nottingham Malaysia
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Dominic C. Y. Foo

Head of Department (UNM) Chemical and Environmental Engineering,

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Biography

Professor Dominic C. Y. Foo, PhD., FASc, PEng, CEng, ACPE, FIChemE, FHEA, MIEM, AAE

Prof Dr Ir Dominic Foo is the Professor of Process Design and Integration at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, and is the Founding Director for the Centre of Excellence for Green Technologies. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), a Chartered Engineer (CEng) with the Engineering Council UK, a Professional Engineer (PEng) with the Board of Engineer Malaysia (BEM), ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineer (ACPE), as well as the President for the Asia Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering (APCChE). He is top 2% world leading researcher (Stanford list), working in process integration for resource conservation and CO2 reduction. He establishes international collaboration with researchers from various countries in the Asia, Europe, American and Africa. Professor Foo is an active author, with eight books, more than 190 journal papers and made more than 220 conference presentations, with more than 30 keynote/plenary speeches. He examined more than 40 PhD/MSc/MPhil thesis in the UK, South Africa, Philippines, Australia, China, Qatar and Taiwan. He served as International Scientific Committees for many important international conferences (PRES, FOCAPD, ESCAPE, PSE, etc.). Professor Foo is the Editor-in-Chief for Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability (Springer Nature), Subject Editor for Process Safety & Environmental Protection (Elsevier), among others. He is the winners of the Innovator of the Year Award 2009 of IChemE, Outstanding Asian Researcher and Engineer 2013 (Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan), Top Research Scientist Malaysia 2016 (ASM).

Other professional web links of Prof Foo:

Prof Foo involves in the following editorial activities:

  1. Series Editor for Green Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (CRC Press)
  2. Editors-in-Chief for Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability (Springer Nature)
  3. Editor (Clean Technology) for Trans IChemE Part B (Process Safety & Environmental Protection, Elsevier)
  4. Associate Editor for South African Journal of Chemical Engineering (Elsevier)
  5. Associate Editor for Frontiers in Sustainability (Sustainable in Chemical Process Design) (Frontier)
  6. Editorial board member for Water Conservation Science and Engineering (Springer Nature)
  7. Editorial board member for Chemical Engineering Transactions
  8. Editorial board member for PROCESSES (MDPI)
  9. Editorial board member for Journal of Petroleum and Mining Engineering (Suez University, Egypt)
  10. IChemE Books Board (IChemE)
  11. Editorial board member for Carbon Footprint (OAE Publishing)

Besides, Prof Foo is active in promoting science and engineering in Malaysia. See his write-up below:

  1. Chemical Engineering Education in Malaysia (APCChE ; IChemE)
  2. Superheroes Society: Engineering a Greener World (click to read)
  3. Back to School (click to read)

Professional involvement of Prof Foo:

  1. Asia Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering (APCChE; Vice President)
  2. Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) (past chairman for Chemical Engineering Technical Division, Corporate Member; MIEM),
  3. Board of Engineer Malaysia - Professional Engineer (PEng)
  4. Engineering Council UK (ECUK) - Chartered Engineer (CEng)
  5. Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) - Fellow (FIChemE), and Malaysia Chapter Chair for Education Subject Interest Group (EdSIG)
  6. The Higher Education Academy, UK - Fellow (FHEA)

Important honorary/awards of Prof Foo:

  1. Stanford list - top 2% scientists in the world - 2020 ; 2021; 2022
  2. Best Engineering and Technology Scientists in Malaysia - 2022
  3. Kesatria - Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) [link 2] [link3]
  4. Fellew (ASc) - Academy of Science Malaysia (ASM) - [link2; link3]
  5. UNM Spirit Award 2018 - University of Nottingham Malaysia
  6. Top Research Scientist Malaysia 2016 - Academy of Science Malaysia [link 2] [link 3] [link 4] [link 5] [link 6]
  7. Vice Chancellor Award 2014 - University of Nottingham
  8. SCEJ Award for Outstanding Asian Researcher and Engineer 2013 - Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan [link 2]
  9. The Outstanding Young Malaysian Award 2012 - Junior Chamber International (JCI)
  10. Young Engineer Award 2010 - Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM),
  11. Innovator of the Year Award 2009 - Institution of Chemical Engineers UK (IChemE)

Appearance of Prof Foo on media:

  1. Guest for "What You Say" Programme - RTM TV2 Facebook Live
  2. Talk on "Professional Networking for Academics" - MJIIT UTM KL Facebook Live
  3. Sin Chew Daily (2021) - Factors to consider for postgraduate studies: Part 1; Part 2
  4. Message for 2021 World Environment Day (5 June): BERNAMA, The Vibes, The Malaysian Insight, Science Media Centre
  5. Message for 2021 World Water Day (22 March): NST, BERNAMA; The Vibes, CodeBlue, Malaysia Now
  6. SpringerNature World Engineering Day - resource use efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction: link
  7. AiFM (Oct 2020) - Climate Change and CO2 emissions: link
  8. Prasarana/Rapid KL (Sept 2020) - Battle Against Climate Change and CO2 emission: link
  9. Mahathir Science Award Foundation (Sept 2020) - Engineering for Sustainability: link
  10. Pocketimes (Sept 2020) - water pollution: link; Youtube
  11. BERNAMA (June 2020) - Combating Climate Change: link
  12. City Plus FM (Dec 2019) - COP25 and green house gas reduction: link
  13. City Plus FM (Nov 2019) - Green Technology Policy: link
  14. Cover story for The Chemical Engineer of IChemE (issue 941) - Carbon: Feeling the Pinch.
  15. FAsinate at Academy of Science Malaysia (Nov 2019) - Climate Change & CO2 Emission: [link] [link]
  16. City Plus FM (Sept 2019) - University courses: link
  17. Global Watch of 8TV (March 2019) - Chemical dumping in Pasir Gudang: Part 1; Part 2; Youtube
  18. Sin Chew Daily (2018): Various engineering disciplines: link
  19. Global Watch of 8TV (Oct 2018) - Direct drinking of pipe water: link; Youtube
  20. INSPIRE Magazine (2017): page 1; page 2
  21. Youtube video: What is chemical engineering? link
  22. The Star (Postgraduate supplement; 21 March 2017): link
  23. JURUTERA (2016): book launch
  24. Sin Chew Daily (2014): Chemical Engineering - page 1; page 2
  25. Nottingham research ibook - link
  26. New Straits Time (2013): green technology
  27. New Straits Time (2012): textbook launch

Prof Foo are also affiliated with the following academic institutions:

  1. Necastle University Singapore - External Examiner (since 2018)
  2. KyungHee University, Korea - International Scholar (2019 - 2020)
  3. Malaysia Japan International Institute of Technology (UTM) - Visiting Professor (since 2020)

Prof Foo serves as reviewer/evaluator for the following bodies:

  1. National Research Foundation (NSF), South Africa
  2. Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), Qatar
  3. Research Grants Council (RGC), Hong Kong
  4. Yayasan Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia
  5. National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation (NCSTE), Kazakhstan

Prof Foo serves as examiners for more than 40 PhD and MSc theses worldwide:

  1. University of Pretoria, South Africa
  2. University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romania
  3. Suez Canal University, Egypt
  4. National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  5. Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia
  6. University of Manchester, UK
  7. University of Waikato, New Zealand
  8. Curtin University, Australia
  9. De La Salle University, Philippines
  10. Qatar University, Qatar
  11. Monash University, Australia
  12. University of Cape Town, South Africa
  13. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
  14. Curtin University Malaysia Campus, Malaysia
  15. University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
  16. National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan
  17. Zhejiang University, China
  18. Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China

Expertise Summary

Prof Dr Ir Dominic Foo works on process integration, which is a holistic approach to process design, retrofit, and operation that emphasises the unity of the process. Professor Foo makes use of various process integration tools such as pinch analysis and mathematical optimisation to solve various problems in resource conservation (e.g. material & energy recovery), CO2 reduction and batch processes.

See for "Research" page for more details.

Teaching Summary

Professor Foo teaches various chemical engineering design modules/subjects for both undergraduate (MEng) and postgraduate taught courses (MSc). These include the following:

  • Process Synthesis and Design (MEng/MSc) - The module introduces students to systematic process synthesis methodologies, which allow them to synthesise a sustainable process flowsheet.
  • Process Design and Optimisation (MEng/MSc) - The module introduces students to advanced process design and optimisation methods using software tools of LINGO and P-graph.
  • Process Simulation 1 (MEng) - The module introduces students to systematic methods in performing steady-state process simulation using commercial software.

Besides, Professor Foo also supervise the following design projects:

  • Chemical Engineering Design Project (MEng)
  • MEng Engineering Project - Advanced Design (MEng)
  • Accelerated Design Training (MSc)

Research Summary

The main area of research for Professor Foo is process integration, which is a holistic approach to process design, retrofit, and operation that emphasises the unity of the process. Professor Foo… read more

Selected Publications

Prof Ir Dr Dominic C. Y. Foo is an active author. He publishes the following books:

  1. Chemical Engineering Process Simulation, 2nd edition, Elsevier (link 1; link 2)
    • Brief info: The new edition of this book covers commercial software of UniSim Design, Symmetry, SuperPro Designer, Aspen HYSYS and Aspen Plus. It is a good self-learning guide for students, early career researchers, and practitioners.
    • Book launch event at Milan, Italy: (link 1; link 2)
    • Process simulation workshop for IChemE Education SIG
    • This book is used for module Process Simulation 1 (CHEE 3020), Chem Eng year 3.

  2. Sustainable Technologies for the Oil Palm Industry: Latest Advances and Case Studies, SpringerNature (link 1; link 2)

    • Brief info: The book reports the latest sustainable technologies developed for the oil palm industry, which include the valorization of palm biomass wastes. It also covers various industrial case studies of green technology applications and lessons learned.
    • Book launch event
  3. Process Integration Approaches to Planning Carbon Management Networks, CRC Press (link1 ; link2; link3)
    • Brief info: This book provides a comprehensive treatment of carbon emissions pinch analysis (CEPA), a technique that was developed since 2007 to reduce CO2 emission and to abate the global climate change issue. The book covers the fundamentals of CEPA as well as more advanced variants based on mathematical programming. A significant portion of the book is dedicated to case studies that provide a range of examples to demonstrate how CEPA can be applied to practical energy planning problems.
    • Review of the book is found here.
    • A ted talk about CO2, climate change & CEPA can be found here.
    • Policy papers to decarbonise Malaysia and Philippines power generation sectors using CEPA can be found here, and a recorded webinar of IChemE is found here.
  4. Process Intensification and Integration for Sustainable Design, Wiley (link1 ; link2)
    • Brief info: The book discusses developments in process intensification and integration with a focus on increased sustainability. Drawing from fundamental techniques and recent industrial experiences, the overarching topics of this book are Sustainable Manufacturing, Energy Saving Technologies and Resource Conservation and Pollution Prevention Techniques.
  5. Process Integration for Resource Conservation, CRC Press (link 1; link 2)
    • Brief info: this book covers the state-of-the-art process integration techniques developed since 1990s for various resource conservation problems, e.g. water minimisation, hydrogen recovery, property integration. It covers pinch analysis and mathematical optimisation techniques.
    • Book launch @ Prague (2012; link)
    • This book is used for module Process Synthesis and Design (PSD; CHEE 4032) and Process Design & Optimisation (PDO, CHEE 4035), Chem Eng year 4 & MSc
  6. Green Technologies for the Oil Palm Industry, Springer (link 1; link 2)
    • Brief info: This book reports the latest work on green technologies in palm oil milling processes, including new processes and various optimisation techniques. It covers the latest developments on palm oil milling process with new technologies, alternative solvent design, residual oil recovery, palm oil mill effluent treatment, palm biomass supply chain, as well as ecoindustrial park concept.
    • Book launch @ Manila (2018; link)
    • Report in newsletter of IChemE Palm Oil Processing Subject Interest Group (POPSIG)
  7. Chemical Engineering Process Simulation, Elsevier (link 1; link 2)
    • Brief info: This is an ideal book for students, early career researchers, and practitioners, as it guides you for the basic principles of process simulation using the commonly-used simulation software in the market.
    • Book launch: IChemE Award Dinner 2017 (link 1; link 2)
    • This book is used for module Process Simulation 1 (CHEE 3020), Chem Eng year 3.
    • See how this book is used for teaching here: Elsevier blog & IChemE newsletter.
    • See review of the book here: Review 1; Review 2.
  8. Process Design, Integration, and Intensification, MDPI AG (link)
    • Brief info: This book aims to cover recent advances in the development and application of process integration and intensification. Specific applications are reported for hydraulic fracturing, palm oil milling processes, desalination, reactive distillation, reaction network, adsorption processes, herbal medicine extraction, as well as process control.
  9. Process Design Strategies for Biomass Conversion Systems, Wiley (link 1; link 2)
    • Brief info: This is an edited book that covers recent developments in process systems engineering (PSE) for efficient resource use in biomass conversion systems. It provides an overview of process development in biomass conversion systems with focus on biorefineries involving the production and coproduction of fuels, heating, cooling, and chemicals.
  10. Recent Advances in Sustainable Process Design and Optimisation; World Scientific (link)
    • Brief info: This is an edited book that covers recently developed techniques emphasizing better chemical processes and products, with state-of-the-art contributions by world-renowned leaders in process design and optimization.

Current Research

The main area of research for Professor Foo is process integration, which is a holistic approach to process design, retrofit, and operation that emphasises the unity of the process. Professor Foo makes use of various process integration tools such as pinch analysis and mathematical optimisation to solve the following research problems:

Resource conservation - With the rising cost of fresh resources (e.g. crude oil, water, etc.) and increasingly stringent environment regulations, there is a need to maximise the efficiency of the use of resources, while minimising the generation of waste. Over the past decade, Professor Foo and his research team have developed various systematic design tools (pinch analysis, mathematical programming) for the synthesis of resource conservation networks (RCNs), addressing water minimisation, gas recovery and property integration problems. See the following for details:

Carbon-constrained energy planning - This is an area of research jointly established by Professor Foo and his close research partner Professor Raymond Tan (De La Salle University-Manila, Philippines), with the aim to combat climate change. Their pioneering paper in ENERGY (Tan & Foo, 2007) has received good attention in the research community since publication. The application of their works ("carbon pinch" in short) have been reported in various countries including New Zealand, China, Ireland, Korea, etc. In recent years, their research focus are dedicated for the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and negative emission technologies (NETs) for energy planning problem. See the following for details:

  • British Council COP26 Trilateral Research Initiative - link 1; link 2; link 3 ; with a web-based software developed for decarbonisation - DECO2 , and a workshop for industrial decarbonisation.
  • SpringerNature World Engineering Day - resource use efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction: link
  • Cover story for The Chemical Engineer of IChemE (issue 941) - Carbon: Feeling the Pinch.
  • An interview with national radio station AiFM on "Climate Change and CO2 Emissions" is available here: link
  • A book on carbon management network published by CRC Press.
  • Youtube videos about this work are available here and here.
  • A Facebook video about decarbonisation is available here.
  • Policy briefs for cutting emission for national power sectors: Malaysia; Philippines
  • Webinar how to decarbonise the power generation sector in Malaysia (log in is required)

Process simulation and optimisation - Professor Foo and his co-workers make use of process simulation and optimisation tools to model, optimise and debottleneck integrated processes, in order to enhance its sustainability, productivity and profitability. See some of his works on this area of research:

  • Simulation and optimisation for oil & gas processes (here and here)

  • Simulation and optimisation for palm oil deodourisation process (paper; video)

  • Simulation and scale-up study for a chitosan-TiO2 scaffold production (paper; audio slides)

  • Pharmaceutical production expansion evaluation (download here)

Faculty of Engineering

University of Nottingham Malaysia
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia

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