Introduction of Circular Society Lab

       At 2004, Prof. Sheng-Jie You and Prof. Ya-Fen Wang established Membrane Research Lab and Plasma Research Lab focused on Wastewater and Air pollution control, respectively. Since the research was developed into cross-discipline, the two labs were integrated into Circular Society Lab at 2014 and Prof. Tien-Chin Chang joined the Lab in 2023.

       In Circular Society Lab, there are 31 members, including 3 professors--Prof. Sheng-Jie You, Prof. Ya-Feng Wang and Prof. Tien-Chin Chang and Prof. David Tsai, 5 Research staff—Ms Ruru Dai, Ms Ruru Cen, Ms Yuyu Chen, Ms Yating Dai and Ms. Lin, 13 Ph.D students, and 16 Master students.

       In Circular Society Lab, we focused on Membrane, Plasma and Photocatalytic research in various environmental Issues. In the past, environmental engineering was separated in several divisions, such as Wastewater/Water, Air Pollution, Solid/Liquid Waste, Groundwater, Noise, based on the issue of problem. Nowadays, Circular Society Lab applies integrated techniques to solve environmental problems.

       In Circular Society Lab, we develop novel photocatalysts and apply Membrane technology for pollutatns treatment (Membrane Bioreactor or membrane reactor) and also develop several technologies (Foulant Reducer, Photocatalytic Membrane) to solve advanced problems. We also apply Membrane technology for recovery of rare elements from Solid Waste (Supported Liquid Membrane), for biogas or syngas separation (Gas Separation Membrane), for hazardous/valuable elements concentrated from liquid or to get high quality water rather than RO process (Membrane Distillation). Plasma technology was also applied to treat hazardous solid waste or waste liquid or agricultural waste, not only to minimize the waste volume, but also to produce valuable products, even to modify the membrane surface for grafting chemicals on it.

       We focused on the integration of techniques and tried to provide total solution on environmental issues. Thus, how to construct the Circular Society based on techniques is our future goal.