Two Vietnamese scientists have recently won the Best Innovation Award and the Outstanding Innovation Award, as part of the 2022 Asia Innovation Award funded by the Hitachi Global Foundation in Japan. 

The Best Innovation Award, worth JPY3 million (US$20,276), was intended for Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung, director of the Refinery and Petrochemical Technology Research Center (RPTC) under the Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM). 

Dr. Phung was honored for her “Advanced Bio-based Aerogels from Agricultural Waste for Water Treatment” project.

This work has developed a technique to produce high-performance cellulose aerogel materials from agricultural wastes towards environment-friendly and economically-viable production.

“The patented process has been developed on a pilot scale. Now with this award, it will be expanded to apply on industrial wastewater,” Dr. Phung said. 

Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Xuan Thanh, head of the VNU-HCM Key Laboratory of Advanced Waste Treatment Technology, grasped the Outstanding Innovation Award, worth JPY1 million ($6,700), for his project entitled “Wetland roof (WR) system for domestic wastewater treatment and sustainable cities.”

“As an improved technology from the wetland wastewater treatment system, this work can be used to ensure the wastewater treated by septic tanks meets discharge standards, while increasing urban green space, improving biodiversity, absorbing emissions and cooling indoor air,” Dr. Thanh said.

This technology has been patented in the U.S., he added.

These two award-winning projects were highly valued for their environmental sustainability, practicality and efficiency. 

Launched in 2020, the Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award is an award program to promote science, technology, and innovation that contributes to solving social issues and realizing a sustainable society in the ASEAN region, according to Hitachi, a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.

This award honors individuals and groups that serve public interests through their outstanding achievements in research and development in the fields of science and technology, as shown on the foundation’s website.

Last year, a group of Vietnamese scientists also won the Best Innovation Award for a collaborative project on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), an index of the degree of organic pollution in water, led by Dr. Pham Thi Thuy Phuong from Vietnam’s Institute of Chemical Technology. 

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