RESEARCH TEAM

Dr. Pinnau joined MTR in 1985, and currently serves as Director of Materials and Membrane Development in MTR’s Research Group. He has published more than 70 research papers, edited four books, and is named as inventor or co-inventor on more than 35 U.S. patents. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Membrane Science and on the International Advisory Board of the Korean Membrane Journal. Dr. Pinnau received the 2002 Award for Cooperative Research in Polymer Science & Engineering, presented by the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials Science & Engineering (PMSE). He is a Board member of the North American Membrane Society and also serves as a consulting professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Stanford University.

Dr. Merkel joined MTR as a Senior Research Scientist in 2003. He is currently Director of Process Research and Development. His recent work has focused on innovative membrane and module studies, including organic vapor transport in polymer/inorganic nanocomposites, novel water transport materials and devices, and membrane-based carbon capture from power plants. Dr. Merkel received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2002. Before joining MTR, Tim worked on novel syngas cleanup technologies at Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC (1998-2002).

Dr. Huang joined MTR in 2005 as a Senior Research Engineer and Group Leader of the Liquid Separations Group. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin in 2005. Currently, she is leading several MTR projects to develop membranes for use in alcohol pervaporation, especially for biofuel applications. Before joining MTR, Ivy participated in a number of research projects sponsored by the Singaporean Government, U.S. Government agencies, and private clients. These programs ranged from fundamental membrane research to the design and development of membrane separation systems.

Dr. Lin joined MTR in 2005 as a Senior Research Scientist and Group Leader of the Gas Separations Group. He began his professional training at Xiamen University in China (PRC), where he received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering (1996). In 2005, he received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin. Dr. Lin’s academic work targeted the development of new membrane materials that are suitable for use in industrial gas separations. He is leading projects related to gas dehydration andcarbon dioxide/hydrogen separation membranes, including development of MTR’s new Polaris™ membranes.

Zhenjie He joined MTR in 1996 and is currently a Senior Research Scientist, working on the development and pilot-scale production of composite membranes for gas and vapor separation. Her research focuses on design of innovative, high-performance membranes for commercial applications. In the past few years, Ms. He developed MTR’s Z-Top™ membrane for refinery hydrogen separations and, more recently, the Polaris™ membrane for carbon dioxide capture and other acid gas applications. Ms. He has authored and coauthored 24 published research papers and is named as co-inventor on 16 U.S. patents; one more is pending.

Karl Amo joined MTR as a research engineer in 1993. Since 2005, he has worked as research liaison with MTR’s manufacturing group, incorporating membrane and module innovations into existing module designs and manufacturing processes. Karl received his B.S. (1991) and M.S. (2008) degrees in chemical engineering from San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. For 2 years before joining MTR, Mr. Amo was a graduate assistant and chemical engineer for NASA Ames Research Center, where he worked in research on air and water purification processes. His early work focused on membrane and module development for natural gas and refining applications. Mr. Amo is named as co-inventor on 10 patents. He is a member of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS).