Professor Han Ji-hoon and Dr. Byun Jae-won (Energy Process Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering) received the S‑Oil Excellent Thesis Award.

The award was established by the Korean Academy of Science and Technology with sponsorship from S‑Oil to foster outstanding young researchers with exceptional potential in basic science and engineering.

The award evaluates doctoral dissertations and papers published in international journals across six fields, including mathematics and physics, chemistry, life sciences, chemical and materials engineering, and IT, to select grand prize and excellence award winners. Prize money is awarded to both the student and the supervising professor.

Dr. Byun, who completed both undergraduate and graduate studies at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) and was dispatched to Princeton University in the United States for one year with support from the Ministry of Education's Basic Research Program (Postdoctoral Overseas Training), is conducting research with his supervisor, Professor Han Ji-hoon, on the development and demonstration evaluation of biorefinery processes that could help address climate change and resource depletion.

As a result, over the past five years he has published ten SCI‑level papers and two domestic papers. Notably, he has demonstrated outstanding research achievements, including a publication in Energy & Environmental Science (IF = 33.250), a leading journal in the energy and environment field, on the development of an integrated economic and environmental assessment model that accounts for uncertainties in biorefinery processes that simultaneously produce transportation fuels and chemical products.

In 2018, he was also selected for the National Research Foundation's Global PhD Fellowship, receiving two years of support for doctoral tuition and academic activity expenses, and is regarded as a next-generation researcher.

Building on these academic achievements, Professor Han and Dr. Byun are conducting research on "Process Design and Techno‑Economic and Environmental Assessment of Kenaf‑Derived Polylactic Acid." This research involves collaborative work with experimental research teams to design and evaluate actual reaction and separation equipment and validate the results, which is significant because it can overcome the limitations of literature‑based simulations.

Professor Han Ji-hoon commented, "I would like to sincerely thank Dr. Byun Jae-won, my first doctoral student, who stayed with me to the end without giving up and who has made research and teaching rewarding. I will continue to devote myself to research together with the students in my laboratory and do my best to contribute, even a little, to the development of science in our country."