Ir. Dr. Shao-Yuan (Ben) Leu is currently an Associate Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He obtained his BS/MS degrees on Wood Processing Techniques from the National Taiwan University (1993-97) and PhD from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA (2003-09). He was a lecturer at UC Riverside (2010-11) and a postdoctoral fellow at USDA Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin (2011-13). Dr. Leu’s research interests are in biorefinery and biological systems for wastes and wastewater treatment and its valorization for new generation bioenergy and chemicals. He and other Professors in the Research Institute of Sustainable Development (RISUD) established the BioEnergy Lab, which aims to characterize the physiochemical properties of plant cell wall and forge biomass conversion theories into practices. From pretreatment, saccharification, fermentation, to lignin depolymerization, Dr. Leu’s team has developed a few techniques to convert plant biomass derived from woods, herbs, and even food wastes into useful products, such as bioethanol, 2,3-butandiols, and monolignols. The related studies may be particularly applicable for forestry and waste management in mega-cities like Hong Kong.

Shao-Yuan (Ben) Leu, Ph.D., P.E (California)