Dr Hyungwoong Ahn is a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Edinburgh in the UK and also an Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering at Yonsei University in Korea. He specialises in adsorption process engineering, focusing on the separation of various gas mixtures, including air drying, CO2 capture and H2 purification. His research revolves primarily around the development and optimisation of innovative adsorption processes, such as Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) and Temperature Swing Adsorption (TSA), through Equilibrium Theory analysis, numerical simulation and experimental demonstrations.

Dr Ahn has also made significant contributions to advancing various CO2 capture technologies, including fluidised bed systems utilising calcium oxides and absorption processes with physical/chemical solvents as well as PSA/TSA technologies. He has led numerous research and consultancy projects in this area of research, supported by funding from various organisations such as the UK’s EPSRC and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Korean Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and others.

He has been recognised as a Brain Pool fellow by the Korean Federation of Science and Technology (KOFST), and served as a technical assessor for the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG) and National Grid. Dr Ahn’s works have garnered several accolades for his university, including being a finalist for the Energy Award at the IChemE Global Awards and winning the Honeywell UniSim Design Challenge competition.

One of his notable inventions is the cutting-edge PSA-SPUR technology for gas separation, which is designed to separate the most strongly adsorbing component from a gas mixture with very high product purity and recovery. Leveraging the patented technology, Dr Ahn is collaborating with a UK SME on various projects funded by the UK funding agencies, such as Connected Places Catapult and Ofgem. These projects are aimed at developing and demonstrating the PSA-SPUR technology at the company’s site, highlighting its applicability in real-world settings.

Simultaneously, Dr Ahn is working with a global shipbuilding company on industry-funded projects that aim to commercialise the PSA-SPUR technology for CO2 capture on ships by 2026, showcasing the versatility of the adsorption process for industrial decarbonisation across different sectors.

He is the author of over 50 publications in international journals (H-index = 32).