By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-09 07:01

As a top petrochemical scientist, Min Enze (above) helped kickstart the country's industrial boom 50 years ago.

He has devoted most of his life to the petrochemical industry - notorious for pollution - and began research on green chemistry only seven years ago.

In a delicious twist of irony, the 84-year-old was Tuesday one of two who were awarded the country's top scientific prize. Min got the award for his efforts to tackle environmental damage through developing a process for manufacturing bio-diesel.

Min, a native of Sichuan Province, is a member of the Sinopec Science and Technology Committee and a senior advisor to the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP).

The award review committee praised his work as an explorer in the research and development of petrochemical green chemistry, as well as his efforts to make better biofuel.

"Bio-diesel research meets the needs of our country," Min told China Daily after he received the award from President Hu Jintao.

He said he has been focusing on green chemistry, particularly bio-diesel production, since the turn of the millennium. "I left the things of today to my students, and dedicate myself to the things of tomorrow and the days after," he said.

In 2000, he published an article "The Future of Refinery", introducing the idea of bio-diesel.

By the 1980s, it had become clear that chemical processes which eliminate pollution at source rather than post-treatment were needed. Min, who was vice-president and chief engineer at RIPP, called for basic research and drew up a roadmap for technology innovation.

He led a five-year National Natural Science Foundation of China research project to develop green chemical technologies.

Producing bio-diesel fuel by developing oil-bearing plants will turn agricultural and forestry products into industrial products, said Min.

However, becoming a chemist was not the scientist's childhood dream.

"I wanted to be an engineer to build a bridge across the Yangtze River," he recalled.

But his uncle, a banker, wanted him to become an industrialist; so in 1943, Min switched to chemical engineering, an unusual move at that time, he said.

In 1947, Min set sail for the United States and began studying for a PhD at Ohio State University's department of chemical engineering.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the US refused to let Chinese students leave - unwilling to let them take the skills and knowledge they'd picked up to new China.

So Min stayed and got married in 1950.

He worked for a chemical company in Chicago for four years, where he investigated ways to prevent corrosion and deal with the problem of ash deposits in boilers.

In 1955, the couple returned to China.

He discovered that refining technology had to be developed from scratch and petroleum refining catalysts were the most needed for the production of aviation fuel.

Min threw himself into new research, and the past four decades have seen him lead the development of manufacturing technologies for new generations of cracking catalysts.