---
title: "Kenneth Hsu"
chunk: 2/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Hsu"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:06:31.108462+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Sedimentology: Journal of the International Association of Sedimentologists (Founding Editor & Editor-in-Chief 1972–1979). UK: Blackwell Science.
Journal of Sedimentary Petrography.
Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
Geophysical Research Letters.
Bulletin of the Japanese Geological Society.
Tethys.
Geologie Mediterrane.
Scientific affiliations

Advisor, Chinese Natural Science Foundation.
Alumni of the Century, Nanjing University (Gold Medal, University Centenary Celebration).
Associate fellow, Third World Academy of Sciences.
Chair, International Marine Geology Commission, 1980–89.
Chairman, department of earth sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
Distinguished alumnus, Ohio State University.
Emeritus professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
First distinguished alumni lecturer of geology, UCLA.
Guest professor, National Taiwan University (1994–95).
Guest professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Honorary professor, University College London, April 2008.
International Writer of the Year, International Book Club (Cambridge), 2003.
Keck Professor, Colorado School of Mines.
Member, National Academy of Sciences, Academy Sinica (Taiwan).
Member, Mediterranean Academy of Sciences.
Member and foreign associate, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1986.
President, International Association of Sedimentologists, 1978–82.
Senior fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies, Berlin, 1995–96.
University professor, Nanjing University.
University professor, Beijing University of Geosciences.
Advisory work
Hsu was a convener of numerous scientific conferences, founder of several scientific societies, and advisor to the governments of developing countries:

UNDP Advisor to Maltese Government (1973);
UNDP Advisor to Chinese Government (1989);
Advisor to Brazil Government on petroleum geology;
Advisor to Argentina and Taiwan governments on lake research and global change;
Advisor to the Chinese Ministry of Geology (1979–87);
Consultant to the Chinese Ministry of Chemical Industry (1992–1996);
Consultant to the Chinese Ministry of Petroleum Geology (1992–94);
Consultant to the Taiwan Museum of Natural History (1995);
Technical Advisor to the Taiwan National Science Foundation (1996–2000);
External Examiner to the University of Malaysia.
Consultant to the Chinese Ministry of Petroleum;
Consultant to the Chinese Ministry of Geology and Mining;
Consultant to the Chinese Institute of Geotechnical Investigation (Ministry of Construction).
Science politics
His co-organized a consortium of 15 European member states to join the International Ocean Drilling Program.
Contributions to the geology of China
Hsu successfully lobbied for the admission of the Chinese Geological Union to replace the Chinese Geological Society in Taipei as a member of the International Union of Geological Sciences and was a member of the first IUGS delegation to China. He served the Chinese Ministry of Geology and Mining in giving training programs for Sedimentology (1979), Field Geology of Tibet (1980) and Plate Tectonics (1992). From 1983 to 1995, he assisted the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with the completion of a project on plate tectonics and to publish a new Geological Atlas of China.
Appreciation
Two Festschrift symposia books, Controversies in Geology, and Paradoxes in Geology, were published by Hsu's colleagues on his 60th and 70th birthdays. In September 2009, his contributions to China and to science were acknowledged at a conference in Beijing, attended by dignitaries from government, industry and academia.

== Entrepreneurial activities ==
Enterprise
After his retirement, Hsu made several inventions in mining, oil, water and energy technology, and founded various companies including Tarim Resource Recycling Limited (UK, 2003); Kenneth Hsu IHC Technology & Development Limited (China, 2005) and Lazarus Energy International Limited (UK, 2007).
Inventions
Hsu was awarded 16 patents in mining, petroleum, water, carbon, energy and environment management, including the Hydro-Transistor and Integrated Hydrologic Circuit (IHC).
Hsu's technologies applied in China [2] included:

3-D Enhanced Oil Recovery of the world's residual oil reserves;
Lithium Production from brine lakes and sea water to empower hybrid vehicles;
Water Availability by waste water recycling and rainwater harvesting to eliminate shortages;
Nitrite-Free Drinking Water scientifically demonstrated to reduce the cancer mortality rate by half;
Nitrite-Free Sewage-Treatment Works to denitritize the drinking water supply;
Lake Rehabilitation by eliminating algal pollution through sequestering of carbon dioxide;
Biofuel Generation by utilizing carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate the burning of fossil fuels;
Capillary Irrigation to conserve water whilst reclaiming land without utilizing surface irrigation;
Land Reclamation and Desert Greening by sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide;
Hydro-Electricity without building hydro-electric dams.
Endorsements
After extensive research and development, Hsu's water technologies were unanamiously endorsed by an expert panel called by the Chinese State Counsellors' Office (Civilian Chief of Staff) of the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao; and by Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, and University of California Chancellor, Henry Yang, who both served on the Chinese Premiere's KHC Advisory Board.[3]
In 2000, Hsu combined the newly developed enhanced oil recovery techniques of hydro-fracturing and horizontal drilling, with water flooding, to invent a totally new process of residual oil recovery (ROR), called 3-dimensional fluid injection, to exploit residual oil. The method utilized water rather than carbon dioxide, although carbon dioxide can also be used in the process. Hsu suggested the technique could increase the recoverable petroleum reserve of the world by a factor of 50% or more. [4]
With the full support of the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, in February 2006, an Expert Panel called by former Petroleum Minister Dr Wang Tao, unanimously agreed Hsu's ROR invention was innovative, and should be tested and applied in China. In April 2006, PetroChina reported a successful test at the Changqing Oil Field (Northwest China), first discovered in 1907. Prior to the test, its annual production was about 10,000 tons. In 2006, this rose to 10 million tons, and in 2007, to 20 million tons.
Ventures
Hsu is active with institutions, organizations and corporations to apply the new technologies in China and internationally.
Consultancy
Hsu is president of the IHC Technology & Development Corporation (China), senior advisor and chief engineer to the Kenneth Hsu Institute for IHC Development (National Institute Of Earth Sciences, Beijing) and director of the Center for Environmental & Health Engineering (Henan University, Kaifeng). His work on the link between nitrite in drinking water and cancer was documented in The Ecologist journal.