Process Integration for Resource Conservation a textbook written by Professor Ir Dr Dominic C. Y. Foo has recently been published by CRC Press, a leading publisher in Engineering and Environmental Sciences has recently been published by CRC Press, a leading publisher in Engineering and Environmental Sciences.
Citing a case study from his new book, Professor Foo said that a PVC plant in Malaysia saved RM 150,000 on water bills and 30 percent reduction in fresh water feed by employing process integration. Whereas the conventional practice of handling waste in the process industry has previously focused on mandatory “end-of-pipe treatment” in order to comply with government regulations for final discharge into the environment.
In recent years, the raise of awareness of environmental sustainability has increased resource conservation activities such as material recovery. This has been widely accepted as an effective way to achieve sustainability goals in process industries such as petrochemicals, pulp and paper and textiles. To this end, various process integration techniques have been invented in order to maximise the effectiveness of resource conservation activities.
“Many factories in Malaysia and also overseas are actively participating in implementing waste minimisation incentives, such as water recycling and reuse as this translates into considerable cost savings,” said Professor Foo.
This new textbook presents state-of-the-art process integration techniques for numerous resource conservation problems, such as water minimisation, gas recovery and property integration.
The book aims to provide final year undergraduate and postgraduate chemical and environmental engineering students with systematic design techniques for resource conservation. It is also a valuable reference tool for industry players who are motivated by cost savings and conservation of resources in order to protect the environment.
Following a holistic philosophy of process integration, the book emphasises the goal of setting performance targets ahead of detailed design of a resource conservation network. To facilitate self-learning, all examples in the book are explained in a step-by-step manner; the book is accompanied by free worksheets and calculation files that may be downloaded from the publisher’s website. A prototype software named as RCNet (acronym for “Resource Conservation Network”) is also available from the publisher’s website. The software gives the reader a simplified guide/ platform to set benchmarked targets on the minimum amount of waste generated in a process plant.
More details of the book can be found here - Amazon) and local bookstores, with both hardback (ISBN 9781439860489 - £89) and paperback versions (ISBN 9781466573321 - £34). The book may be purchased in many online (e.g. ) and local bookstores, with both hardback (ISBN 9781439860489 - £89) and paperback versions (ISBN 9781466573321 - £34).
The first book launch event was held during the 15th Conference on Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES 2012) in Prague, Czech Republic in Prague, Czech Republic.
For the Asian market, Professor Foo’s book will be launched on 22 Nov 2012 at the 4th International Conference on Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering (ICCBPE 2012) in conjunction with the 26th Symposium of Malaysian Chemical Engineers (SOMChE 2012) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
About the author, Professor Ir Dr Dominic C. Y. Foo
Prof Ir Dr Dominic Foo is the Professor of Process Design and Integration at the Centre of Excellence for Green Technologies at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Recently, he was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Young Malaysian Award for his work in Scientific and Technological Breakthrough. Recently, he was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Young Malaysian Award for his work in Scientific and Technological Breakthrough.
Professor Foo is a world leading authority for process integration for resource conservation. He has more than 30 international collaborations with researchers from various countries in Asia, Europe, American and Africa. Prof Foo is also an active author, who has published more than 75 journal papers and two books, and has made more than 120 conference presentations, with more than 15 keynote/plenary speeches. He serves on the editorial board for the Elsevier journal – Process Safety and Environmental Protection (formerly known as the Transactions of Institution of Chemical Engineers UK - IChemE), as well as Chemical Engineering Transactions. He has served as an International Scientific Committee member for many important international conferences (PRES, FOCAPD, ESCAPE, PSE, etc.). Professor Foo was the winner of the Innovator of the Year Award 2009 of IChemE, as well as the 2010 Young Engineer Award of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM). He also conducts professional training for practising engineers. He is currently the chairman of the Chemical Engineering Technical Division of IEM and also an active member of IChemE (Malaysia branch), and is a Professional Engineer registered with the Board of Engineer Malaysia (BEM).
About the School of Engineering at UNMC
The Faculty of Engineering is recognised as being amongst the best in higher education. Here at the Malaysia Campus all of our courses are taught in English and the degrees awarded are exactly the same as those in the UK. The school offers undergraduate and post graduate courses with interesting research opportunities. For more information on courses offered, please consult www.nottingham.edu.my or email: enquiries@nottingham.edu.my.
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Released by The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, please contact Josephine Dionisappu, PR & Communications Manager on +6 (03) 8924 8746 or josephine.dionisappu@nottingham.edu.my
Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia campuses. It is also the most popular university in the UK by 2012 application numbers, and the world's green's university. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security,energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2011, for its research into global food security.
Impact:The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest ever fund-raising campaign, will deliver the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future.
Posted on 5th January 2016