Biodata

Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud

FASc FTWAS FIChemE CEng PEng

• Founding President of the Malaysian Association of Hydrogen Energy (MAHE).
• Principal Research Fellow, Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Research & Innovation, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya (UM), Malaysia.

Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud is Principal Research Fellow, University of Malaya (2022-2024). He was previously UKM-Petronas Professor of Sustainable Hydrogen Energy at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (December 2019- 2021), Founding Director of the Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (2007-2013), Professor of Chemical Engineering at Department of Chemical & Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (1996-2021) and Principal Research Fellow at the Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (2007-2021). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (2012-), Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (2022-) and Fellow of The Institution of Chemical Engineers (2007-). He is Founding President of the Malaysian Association of Hydrogen Energy (MAHE) (2018-2024) and the President of the Malaysian Academy of Islamic Science (ASASI) (2010-2024).

He was born on 27 December 1955 in Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. He went to school at Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Conolly, Ipoh (1962-1964), Sekolah Kebangsaan Taiping (1965-1967), Sekolah Dato’ Abdul Razak, Tanjong Malim and Seremban (1968-1973) and Leederville Technical College, Perth, Western Australia (1974). He obtained BEng degree (First Class Hon.) in chemical engineering from  University of Monash, Victoria, Australia in 1978 and PhD degree in chemical engineering from University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 1984.

He won the prestigious Merdeka Award 2016, the top Malaysian science award on 23 September 2016 for outstanding scholastic achievement for research and development work in advancing the technology of fuel cells and hydrogen energy. He also won the Anugerah Tokoh Akademik Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language Academic Figure Award) 2020 for advancing the use of Bahasa Melayu in teaching and research in engineering at public universities in Malaysia.

He was listed as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in the top 1% of World scientists and Highly Cited Researcher in engineering seven times from 2015 – 2022 by Clarivate Analytics.

He strongly advocates the Hydrogen Economy in Malaysia as the founding President of Malaysian Association of Hydrogen Energy (MAHE). He led the development of the first Roadmap for Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cells for Malaysia 2006 and the Hydrogen Economy and Technology Roadmap 2023.

His main research areas are green hydrogen energy such as water splitting by photoelectrochemical cell (PEC), proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) and microbial electrolysis cell (MEC); fuel cells technology such as proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), microbial fuel cells (MFC) and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC); sustainable industrial drying technology such as solar, spray, drum, and fluidized bed dryers; and history and philosophy of Malay & Islamic technology. He was granted 30 patents on fuel cells, hydrogen energy production and solar dryers.

He published 414 articles in international journals, 401 articles in proceedings of international conferences and 235 articles in proceedings of national conferences. He is cited in WOS 13,552 times with H-index 60; in SCOPUS 15,425 times with H-index 65, and in Google Scholar 22,588 times with H-index 74.

He was invited to present 54 international plenary keynote and 10 invited papers on hydrogen energy and fuel cells in China, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, and Thailand. He was also invited to present 30 national plenary keynote papers.

Speech detail

Malaysia’s Perspectives in Embracing Hydrogen Economy

Carbon dioxide emission from fossil fuel use causes global warming and climate change. Cop21 Paris Agreement (2015) called for carbon emission reduction to keep temperature rise below 1.5C by increasing energy efficiency, decarbonizing industries and diversifying into low carbon renewable energy (RE) such as biomass, biofuel, solar, wind and green hydrogen energy. COP26 (2021) called for net zero carbon emission by 2050. Malaysia plans to increase carbon emission intensity reduction to 55%  by 2030 based on 2005 level by increasing RE capacity to 40% by 2035. Malaysia commitment in COP21 (INDC) and COP26 (2021) for net zero carbon emission by cutting carbon emission intensity by 55% of 2005 level by 2030 will not be met by current policies of making RE, the fifth fuel 40% of the national energy mix for electricity generation sector using large scale solar and energy efficiency; and biodiesel vehicles and electric vehicle (EV) using green electricity for the transportation sector. The gap could be closed by introducing green hydrogen energy into the energy policy as the sixth fuel in electricity generation  and as a third green fuel for fuel cell vehicles (FCV) alongside biodeisel and EV. Green hydrogen energy is a sustainable low or zero carbon emission energy. It is clean, safe, reliable, and affordable. Green hydrogen produced by water electrolysis using locally available renewable energy (RE) such as solar energy (SE) and wind energy (WE) is a secure energy carrier that could be used to produce energy at point of use and water only, which is recycled. The Hydrogen Economy is thus a circular economy that is driven by locally available renewable energy and emitting net zero carbon. In order to achieve Net Zero by 2050, Malaysia plans to increase solar energy and reduce fossil energy such as coal and natural gas (National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) 2023) and to introduce  green hydrogen energy (Hydrogen Economy and Technology Roadmap (HETR) 2023). The HETR will be driven by Malaysian indigenous World class talents and innovations in hydrogen energy and fuel cells in Malaysia that were developed since 1995, funded by both Ministries of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI) and of Higher Education (MOHE) and by private companies such as TNB, Petronas and UMW to name a few. The Sarawak State Government had built the first integrated hydrogen production from hydro power and storage complex in South East Asia with a hydrogen refueling station for fuel cell buses and cars. The Sarawak government is planning to introduce the world’s first hydrogen-powered smart tram, the Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) vehicle in 2025. Recently NanoMalaysia, Petronas, UMW dan MGTC is collaborating on the second Mobile Hydrogen Refueling Station. Sarawak and Petronas are also planning to export green hydrogen to Japan, Korea and China. Petronas through its wholly owned company Gentari Sdn Bhd is to generate green electricity using large scale solar, to supply green electricity through the national grid to EV and green hydrogen generated in situ using Petronas own electrolyzer technology developed with UKM, to FCVs domestically as well as in India. TNB is planning to start co-firing of 20% hydrogen in gas turbine  combined cycle power plants and co-firing of 20% ammonia in coal thermal plants to reduce their emission. The strategic geographic position of Malaysia on the main sea lanes provide opportunity for ammonia produced from hydrogen as bunkering fuels for ships passing through the area. The hydrogen economy that will be developed by both the ETR and HETR have enormous potential to kickstart Malaysia’s economy after the pandemic by creating a new sustainable industry and technology for the economy, providing it with energy security, preventing early onset of climate change, which otherwise would affect the economy negatively, and cleaning its environment for its citizen to enjoy a healthy and prosperous life now and in the future.