Eco Expo Asia

A Hong Kong company has won a clutch of awards from around the world for its energy saving, low-cost and high-tech solution employed in the recycling of used lubricants.

In October, Dunwell Enviro-Tech(Holdings) Ltd became the first Hong Kong company in the 13-year history of the UK-based Institution of Chemical Engineers (IchemeE) to receive the Engineering Services Environment Award for its innovative VMAT (Vibrating Membrane Advanced Treatment) oil recycling technology.

It was also one of the winners of the recent Asian Innovation Awards sponsored by the Asian Wall Street Journal, honouring Asian individuals and companies "that improve quality of life, business productivity or the environment".

Dunwell's irrepressible Managing Director, Daniel Cheng, a self described "technology artiste who believes passionately that there are more advanced technologies waiting to be discovered", said he is very happy about the awards. "It reinforces that the company is going in the right direction. It puts Dunwell on the world map, keeps our staff motivated and sharp and is a good benchmark."

Idea in motion

Mr Cheng, an industrial engineer by training and an entrepreneur at heart, bought an Australian used oil recycling plant in Yuen Long, Hong Kong, which went bankrupt in 1993. "I saw the plant in Yuen Long, bought it and hired technicians and engineers. It was very difficult getting the right people in the 90s as Hong Kong was not well known for chemical processing then."

Buying the plant was the easy part. "Running it was scary as we didn't have an income for 18 months. Most people would be daunted but I was not fazed."

Trying to make the plant profitable, he came across a US technology in treating industrial wastewater by filtering through a vibrating membrane or an ultra thin nano sieve. Mr Cheng figured that the same principle could be applied to treat heavier lubricants such as oil. "I contacted the US inventors who insisted that this technology works only with water not oil."

But Mr Cheng was convinced that he had found an innovative way to reduce energy costs by running it around 90 instead of 350 degree Centigrade by distillation to produce a fine, clear and non-odorous quality oil.

Breakthrough

He persisted for three years and finally in 1999, he managed to convince the American inventors to give it a try. "I bought the equipment and said, no guarantees, but we will experiment and innovate. I was convinced I was on to a winning process because nobody in the world had it. "

The US inventors who were initially sceptical became his partners. Thus, after five more years of development, not only in the vibrating membrane, but also from collection, screening, pre-treatment, and decolourisation after the filtration, the VMAT technology was born.

It works at much lower temperatures than usual oil-distillation plants and carries a guarantee - no replacement filters are required in the first year. This makes it much cheaper to use and the first China VMAT will be used for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, creating a "Green Olympics" by recycling instead of burning the used oil and cutting down on pollution.

Necessity, they say, is the mother of all inventions and Mr Cheng believes that Hong Kong has notched up its approach to manufacturing - from the faster and cheaper original equipment manufacturing in the 80s and 90s to the present day original design manufacturing and branding.

Competitive edge

"Hong Kong people are very fast and very adaptable. If the situation requires them to change, they will. So, yes, to maintain competitive edge, Hong Kong companies are moving towards making innovative creative products."

Mr Cheng, whose Dunwell Engineering has, among others, also received the 2005 grand award from the Hong Kong Awards for Industry in the Machinery & Equipment Design category, and the Hong Kong Innovative Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999, believes that passion and vision are the key factors to his success.

"Real inventors have passion. I start with an idealistic dream and move forwards. In the long term, I hope to see VMAT used in oil refineries so we can extract oil with amazing energy savings. That would have a major impact on the whole global oil industry."

View All

* The information of this web site is subject to change

Hong Kong Electronics Fair