The Importance of Lifelong Learning in Career Development

Wenping Li discusses how learning "the magic of chemistry" enhanced her skills as an engineer
Industry Matters Newsletter
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Greetings! I’m Wenping Li, the R&D Director of Agrilectric Research Company, where we specialize in manufacturing rice hull ash amorphous silica using a biofuel power generation process. Rice hull ash amorphous silica is a very interesting material with a highly porous structure, over 90% amorphous silica and low carbon contents, with applications ranging from filtration and separation, insulation, additives, cement substitutes, to soil amendments, and more. At Agrilectric, our R&D efforts are dedicated to developing new filtration and separation products and enhancing existing ones through physical and chemical modifications, tailored to meet diverse customer needs.

With a chemical engineering background, and expertise in filtration and separation, I have always been an engineer in my professional career. I understand the process need, and know exactly the properties and performance of the final product. However, transformation from our base rice hull ash amorphous silica to this final product, many times, requires the magic of chemistry. I needed to expand my knowledge on specific chemicals, and general analytical tools. Without a systematic understanding of inorganic or organic chemistry, it is difficult to understand the specific chemistry of my job, which requires me to explore more. The ACS meeting provides me a perfect platform to learn and to get new ideas.

As a filtration and separation specialist, I have been proudly serving as a member and volunteer for the American Filtration and Separations Society (AFS) for 25 years. AFS is renowned for its commitment to education and technology development for both industries and academia covering almost all area of filtration and separation technologies. Through my involvement with AFS, I stay abreast of the latest advancements, fostering connections with peers and drawing inspiration from cutting-edge developments in science and engineering.

For our filtration and separations products, R&D is the connection between the fundamental and application, lying underneath observable product performance. Chemistry serves as a vital link. Thus, both AFS and ACS are indispensable in my professional journey.

Beyond my work with rice hull ash amorphous silica material, I enjoy cooking, gardening and running. Although I was trained with an engineering mindset, I find it rewarding to explore opportunities for improvement using chemistry in cooking, gardening and even personal wellness.  


About the Contributor

Wenping Li, Director of R&D, Agrilectric Research Company
Wenping Li, Director of R&D, Agrilectric Research Company

Wenping is the R&D Director of Agrilectric Research Company, with over 20 years of industrial filtration and separation experience. Before joining Agrilectric, she worked with Prof. Frank M. Tiller, the father of modern filtration theory, at the University of Houston from which she built an in-depth understanding of fundamentals in solid/liquid separations.  She has 2 patents, over 40 publications, including contributions to Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook and Albright Chemical Engineering Handbook.

Wenping joined AFS in 1999 and served as the AFS chair in 2012. She has served as a Board of Director, Chapter Affair Committee Chair, and Student Poster Competition Chair for AFS. She received AFS Frank Tiller Award in 2014, and AFS Fellow Award in 2021. She is the Technical Co-Chair for the World Filtration Congress 13 in October 2022, and Co-Chair for AFS annual conference FiltCon in 2023.


This article has been edited for length and clarity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of their employer or the American Chemical Society.

Headshot of Wenping Li

Wenping Li is a R&D Director of Agrilectric Research Company.

 


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