May 2022
Suntar is the first membrane company to be listed on the Shanghai Star Board (SSE: 688101). Suntar is renowned in the membrane industry for its pioneering applications in fields such as biotechnology, F&B processing, and lithium extraction. In this talk, Professor Lan Weiguang will conduct an in-depth sharing on how he had built Suntar’s technology translation platform with the Research, Development, Platform, Application (RDPA) model as its core philosophy. At the heart of this RDPA model are the 6’P’s, notably Principle, Proof in the lab, Pilot-testing, Prototype, Process Design, and Product.
The RDPA model naturally bridges the gap between academia and industry, with the 6’P’s forming the guiding blueprint to take novel research from principle to product one step at a time. Professor Lan will be proposing a collaboration model that combines the groundbreaking research done by KAUST and more than 25 years of experience in technology translation by Suntar to successfully commercialize seawater lithium extraction technology. This innovative technology will then form the backbone of large-scale seawater utilization operations that can help reinvent Saudi Arabia as an exporter of renewable energy and energy storage solutions.
Biography: Professor Weiguang Lan is the founder of Suntar International Group, a renowned process and engineering solutions provider specializing in advanced membrane technology development and application. Since its establishment in 1996, Suntar has expanded its expertise across the entire membrane industry value chain to include materials production, process development, equipment fabrication, system integration, on-site installation, and after-sales service. For Innovation, Research and Development, Professor Lan developed a unique RDPA (Research-Development-Pilot Testing-Application) model. Additionally, he led his team to publish over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and applied for over 500 process know-hows and 150 patents.
Professor Lan graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Chemistry Department of Xiamen University in 1985. After which, he began his early career as an Assistant Professor at the Fisheries College of Jimei University, where he conducted various projects that were published in renowned Chinese scientific journals. Due to his outstanding work in research, he was offered a full scholarship in 1991 to pursue a Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry of National University of Singapore. Prior to his successful completion of his Ph.D. in 1995, he was invited to Hydrochem Engineering Pte Ltd as a Technical & Sales Director in 1994. Subsequently, in 1995, he was awarded a PhD degree by National University of Singapore. In 1996, he was invited to return to his Alma Mater, Xiamen University as an Academic Staff, and was promoted to a full professor in 1999. Besides, Professor Lan obtained a Master of Public Administration and Management from National University of Singapore in 2015.
While Professor Lan was working at Xiamen University in 1996, he founded Suntar Membrane Technology (Xiamen) Co Ltd. Suntar's key competency in its early days was its ability to seek separation and purification solutions for industrial clients through innovative process development. These process technologies lie at the heart of Suntar's unique business model; and were a reflection of its immense knowledge of chemical processes and bold ideas on how membrane technology could be applied to industries. Under Professor Lan's leadership, Suntar grew from a startup into the technology juggernaut that we see today. Suntar’s core business, Suntar Environmental Technology Co. Ltd, is currently publicly listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Science and Technology Innovation Board (Share Code: 688101.SH). In addition, Professor Lan led another company, Suntar Eco-city Ltd, which is publicly listed on the Singapore Exchange’s main board.
