SINGAPORE — For all his accomplishments, Professor Neal Chung is a man who lives simply. “I’ve been in Singapore for 18 years, but (during this time) I’ve never gone to the movies, the Singapore Zoo or Jurong Bird Park,” said the Taiwan-born Provost’s Chair Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore.

“I travel overseas only for conferences, and even then I don’t do any sightseeing — I have no time.”

His devotion to his research has allowed Prof Chung to be the prolific scientist he is: With 38 United States patents, 18 books and book chapters, and an astonishing 490 journal papers to his name, there is no doubt that Prof Chung’s academic achievements contributed to NUS being named the best water research institute in the report “Top Academics and Institutions in Water Research 2013”, released last month by Lux Research, a research and advisory firm headquartered in Boston that focuses on emerging technologies. Nanyang Technological University came in second in Lux’s rankings.

“Most people don’t believe me when I say NUS is top (in water research and membrane technology),” said Prof Chung. “Nobody knew about that until this report (from Lux Research) was published.”

Prof Chung researches membranes made of polymers and used in desalination, water reuse, sustainable energy and drug separation. He entered his current field by chance, and, being deeply religious, he has been grateful for the serendipitous turn of events. “I’m a polymer engineer, but I started work on membranes because my company (at that time) told me, ‘If you don’t work on membranes, you’ll have no job.’ I really didn’t want to, but I thank God that it (turned out to be a fortunate move).”

Prof Chung started working on membranes with applications in energy harvesting, but gradually moved on to study their use in water research. “After coming to Singapore, I was asked to apply my work on membranes to water research, which puzzled me because I thought water research was well established,” he said.

After four and a half years of working part time at Hyflux, Prof Chung’s opinion of water research changed. “I gradually understood that water research is not complete yet,” he said. “I realised, after the price of oil rose, that the current reverse osmosis technology is not good: It uses a lot of electricity to force water across membranes at a pressure of100 bar (which is 100 times the atmospheric air pressure at sea level). That’s a lot of energy, and the energy is usually derived from crude oil, whose price may rise to US$200 (per barrel).”

“People are starting to understand that the current reverse osmosis technology works well for now, but it may not be the future,” said Prof Chung.

A technology related to reverse osmosis might offer some unassuming benefits: Forward osmosis, in which only water passes through a semi-permeable membrane from a region of low solute concentration to one of high solute concentration, is a more straightforward method of obtaining water and uses a fraction of the electrical power needed by reverse osmosis.

“Through forward osmosis, you can use sugar to draw water, and with fertiliser you can do the same: In some countries, there is a shortage of water, but they need water for agriculture. If they can use seawater or industrial water as a source and fertiliser to draw clean, useable water, that is powerful,” said Prof Chung.

Despite the many years spent on research and his numerous accomplishments, there are still goals that Prof Chung is working towards. “I want to win a few important awards. I hope I can get the Lee Kuan Yew (Water Prize); that’s my dream. And the Stockholm Water Prize, which is the Nobel Prize (of water research). I’ll also try for the Saudi Arabian (Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water),” he said.

“I hope I can get these within five years. I don’t want to die without accomplishment.”

The busy Prof Chung still finds time to supervise and work closely with the students in his research group, and his dedication to his students is clear. “As professors, our job is to add value to our students, so when I teach my students about membranes, I teach them all that I can and I give them all the membrane samples,” he said.

“At the start, they don’t know much, but gradually they learn, and when they make membranes better than I expected, I’m happy.”

Prof Chung’s concern for his students’ development extends beyond the boundaries of their work on membrane research. “I ask all my foreign students to learn Mandarin, and they take Mandarin classes at NUS. Most of my Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian students can speak Mandarin,” he said. “Some professors don’t like to do this, but I consider it good for students.”

In describing the philosophies that guide him, Prof Chung said: “In life, working hard doesn’t mean you’ll have security, but (as a Christian I believe that) if you’re under God, He will protect you. And to do research, you have to be crazy and aim high; otherwise you can’t do it.”