In 2022, the Asia Innovation Award comprised two Best Innovation Awards, three Outstanding Innovation Awards, and several Encouragement Awards. Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung won one of the Best Innovation Awards with her project “Advanced Bio-based Aerogels from Agricultural Waste for Water Treatment”. The work is the research result of the Sustainable Process Engineering Research group – SPE (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology) with sponsorship from Vingroup Innovation Fund (VINIF).

The award, valued at 3 million Japanese yen, equivalent to approximately 540 million Vietnamese dong, honors the research of Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung and her colleagues for developing a technique to produce high-performance cellulose aerogel materials from agricultural waste, an approach that is environmentally friendly and economically viable.

Aerogel is known as the lightest material in the world, with high performance and wide-ranging applications across various fields. The uniqueness of the product lies in its composite aerogel material, which incorporates cellulose fibers and binders like hemi and lignin that help improve mechanical properties and are of biological origin. Advanced freeze drying technology saves production time and energy, improves material properties, can be upgraded to an industrial scale and does not use chemical solvents like current technologies. Cellulose airgel products have superior density, porosity, ability to adsorb heavy metals, organic solvents, and color compared to other products on the market.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung shared: “Currently, the project has been developed on the laboratory scale and pilot scale, and has been patented. With this award, the project will develop applications on industrial wastewater.”

Also from The Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Associate Professor Dr. Bui Xuan Thanh (Head of the VNU-HCM Key Lab of Advanced Waste Treatment Technology) won the Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award in 2022 for the Outstanding Innovation Award for his research on “Wetland Roof (WR) System for Domestic Wastewater Treatment and Sustainable Cities.” The award is valued at 1 million yen, equivalent to approximately 180 million Vietnamese dong.

The Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award recognizes scientists whose initiatives and technological innovations hold the potential for application and contribution towards solving social problems and achieving sustainable development goals.