He and his colleagues focus on researching methods, techniques and equipment applied in the treatment of wastewater, solid waste, and hazardous waste in industry, health, agriculture and daily life.
Prof. Dr. Trinh Van Tuyen
Prof. Dr. Trinh Van Tuyen, born in 1962, is former Director of the Institute of Environmental Technology. He graduated from Tashkent University of Irrigation in the former Soviet Union in 1986, obtained a Ph.D. degree in Chemical and Environmental Technology at the Moscow State University of Environmental Engineering, Russian Federation in 1998, participated in a scientific internship in Tsukuba, Japan and was promoted to Professor in 2020.
Prof. Dr. Trinh Van Tuyen is the author and co-author of 84 scientific articles, of which 32 articles are published in prestigious international journals, is the author and co-author of six6 monographs and textbooks, granted seven patents and utility solution patents. He has been in charge of many topics and tasks at all levels; guiding many doctoral students and postgraduate students in the field of Environmental Engineering. His main research directions are: Research, development and application of pyrolysis technologies and equipment to treat solid waste and industrial and medical hazardous waste; Research, development and application of advanced oxidation technology for wastewater treatment; Research, improve and apply technologies and equipment in the treatment of industrial and medical hazardous solid waste, and research on technology for treatment of medical wastewater, leachate.
Continuous efforts
From the early days of the establishment of the Institute of Environmental Technology, he worked in the Environmental Engineering Research Department. At that time, the problem of environmental pollution was very complicated, especially pollution in the medical and industrial sectors. To treat pollution, many state-owned projects from central to local levels have to import treatment equipment and systems from abroad at high costs. In addition, working in a polluted environment and high temperature leads to imported equipment and machinery systems having to be regularly guaranteed and maintained, causing significant difficulties for equipment investment projects. From the actual needs, Prof. Tuyen and his colleagues have worked hard to research the production of new equipment and technologies to meet domestic needs with low cost, high durability and favorable warranty.
Over 20 years of working and diligently pursuing research, he and his colleagues have manufactured many new equipment with good efficiency, meeting increasingly high environmental standards, fast reaction speed in equipment, and more compact equipment size, helping to reduce investment costs as well as environmental treatment costs while still bringing high efficiency. Currently, he and his colleagues' research has been widely applied and has a foothold in Vietnam. Many hospitals, medical facilities, and some international organizations have used the equipment researched by the team to invest in projects in Vietnam as well as export to other countries.
Prof. Dr. Trinh Van Tuyen discussing with members of the research team
Sharing about the team's research, he recalled: The research on the treatment of waste streams in the coke smelting process to serve steel mills in Vietnam was the research that left the deepest impression on him and his colleagues. The experience in this research has helped him make initial judgments and work with scientific councils and management agencies to prove and clarify the causes of environmental incidents related to the mass death of fish in four 4 central provinces. His typical patent is the wastewater treatment drip biofiltration system, which is capable of self-supplying air from nature (no supporting equipment is required) to significantly reduce treatment costs and ensure the sustainability of the aerobic biological process that occurs in the treatment system.
He and his colleagues have developed cooperation with many large international research groups such as Russia, South Korea and especially Japan to learn and grasp new technologies. From the initial JICA projects, through NEDO projects related to environmental pollution treatment, a close and strong international scientific network has been created. Therefore, the investment in equipment is also developed. He and his colleagues in the country are active members of the International Forum on Green Technology and Management (IFGTM), an annual scientific forum of the Green Technology and Management Research Network with nearly 20 members who are research units, leading environmental training of Vietnam and some countries in the region.
Environmental pollution is a practical issue that has always been a concern on a global scale. The goal of creating a green economy, circular economy or "Net Zero" (aims to mitigate the impact of climate change, especially reducing global warming) poses many opportunities as well as challenges for the environmental technology sector in Vietnam. Currently, environmental pollution exists in many craft villages, rural areas and industrial parks that have not been completely resolved. Research cooperation with partners who are research units, domestic and foreign environmental companies needs to be further promoted to create new high-efficiency environmental treatment technologies. In the future, Prof. Tuyen and his colleagues will continue to expand their research to more environmental subjects such as leachate, wastewater in urban areas and industrial parks. In addition, he is also interested in researching methods and techniques for recovering valuable components in wastewater and exhaust gases to apply them in practice to bring economic efficiency and reduce environmental treatment costs. Prof. Tuyen said that the research on circulating wastewater treatment technology thoroughly (almost 100%) at production facilities and moving towards a model of not generating wastewater into the environment is the research goal that he will continue to pursue.
Outstanding results
With many works widely applied in social life, meeting the urgent needs of practice, Prof. Tuyen was honored to receive the Certificate of Merit in 2011, 2016 from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Techmart Gold Cup Award in 2015 from the Ministry of Science and Technology. In particular, he and his colleagues received the Tran Dai Nghia Award in 2019 of VAST for their work: "Research and development of industrial and medical hazardous waste treatment technology". Since 2000, the project with two technological products, namely VHI-18B Solid Waste Incinerator to treat medical and industrial hazardous solid waste and IET-BF wastewater treatment system to treat medical wastewater, domestic wastewater and industrial wastewater, has been implemented and assessed as suitable for the conditions of Vietnam. The research results have been published in eighteen domestic and international papers, and granted three patents and utility solution patents.
Sharing about Tran Dai Nghia Award, Prof. Dr. Trinh Van Tuyen said: Prof. Acad. Tran Dai Nghia is the one who laid the foundation for the country's science and technology. His research has made a great contribution to the cause of struggle, national liberation and national reunification. Therefore, the difference of Tran Dai Nghia Prize compared to other awards is the emphasis on the applicability of research works in social life. Tran Dai Nghia Award aims to honor the authors of the best works that have been applied in practice, bringing economic, social, security and defense benefits. Therefore, receiving this meaningful award is a great honor of scientists with a lot of enthusiasm, efforts, perseverance in research and solid practical experience.
Regarding the award-winning project, he added: At this time, the collection and treatment of waste has not been properly invested and the treatment technology is not really effective, so pollution caused by hazardous waste in industry and health has greatly affected the living environment as well as public health. Putting a lot of energy into the research, he and his colleagues have found new technologies and equipment that not only effectively treat hazardous wastes but also ensure low cost and ecological safety. The research work has been highly appreciated for its outstanding advantages not only in terms of low investment and treatment costs but also simple operation and high efficiency. Currently, this technology and equipment have been widely applied in more than fifty medical and industrial hazardous solid waste treatment facilities and more than twenty-five medical wastewater treatment facilities across the country.
As a member of the Scientific Council of Tran Dai Nghia Prize in 2025, Prof. Tuyen believes that Tran Dai Nghia Award will be widely spread to many research units, scientists and universities to have many quality works with good application in practice. Currently, the level of research and modern equipment has contributed to the creation of research results with higher scientific value and applicability. However, there are still many difficulties, bringing research to life is a long and arduous process and scientists in the field of environment still have to reach out to reality, facing great competition. In addition, the issue of copyright infringement or "theft" of intellectual property also cause difficulties in application and implementation.
Therefore, if there is a lack of determination and consistency, a research result, no matter how excellent, may be ‘left in the drawer'. Therefore, he expects that 2025 will be a good opportunity to honor talented scientists and excellent research works in the field of environment, spreading the spirit of science, creativity and dedication of the late Prof. Acad. Tran Dai Nghia to the scientific community, creating more motivation for research in the field he pursues because the environment is cleaner, greener and more beautiful.
Phuong Ha
