Wei Kemei

Wei Kemei (August 29, 1939 – October 23, 2014) was a Chinese chemical engineer who specialized in developing catalysts for fertilizer production. He served as a professor and president of Fuzhou University and was a Chinese Academy of Engineering member. He has been described as a symbolic figure representing the university's spirit of dedication and perseverance.

Born in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, Wei's ancestral home was Fuqing, Fujian province. He returned to China in 1944 and was raised and educated in Fuzhou. He graduated from the Department of Chemistry at Fuzhou University in 1965, majoring in physical chemistry.

From the 1970s onwards, he actively researched and developed ammonia synthesis catalysts and shift catalysts for the fertilizer industry. Along with Zhang Gumei and Lu Jiaxi, Wei is considered one of the symbolic figures of Fuzhou University's "Three Spirits." He was regarded as the embodiment of the spirit of dedication and perseverance.

Early life and education

Wei Kemei was born in August 1939 in what is now Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. His father had worked in Japan for nearly 30 years. However, life there remained difficult, and two years later, they relocated again to their ancestral home on Da Bian Island. After founding the People's Republic of China, Wei's family was classified as Poor and lower-middle peasants during the Land Reform Movement 1952 and received land. As an agricultural powerhouse, the People's Republic of China leads the world in both production and demand for synthetic ammonia. Wei's team undertook an unprecedented catalyst research project at Fuzhou University to meet this demand. In 1973, a chemical plant in Fuzhou invested several hundred thousand Renminbi to build an ammonia synthesis catalyst production workshop.

Study visit to Japan In 1987, Wei Kemei passed the standardized Japanese language examination in mainland China and was subsequently sent to the Chemical Technology Institute of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba Science City, Japan, for a one-year research visit. contributed to cost efficiency and environmental protection in China's ammonia industry. These achievements earned multiple national and provincial awards. The academy also recognized him for his academic rigor and personal integrity. Fuzhou University later included what it termed the 'spirit of selfless dedication represented by Academician Wei' as part of its official "Three Spirits" values. The university described him as a dedicated educator and scholar who was respected by peers and students alike. In the 1910s, at 25, his father left Mawei Port to work in Japan, where Wei Kemei was later born. We had one older sister and two older brothers. His wife, Lin Hengying, is a physician, and the couple had one daughter, Wei Zheng.

Academic achievements and honors

Since the 1980s, Wei Kemei and his research team received numerous provincial and national-level academic and social honors. His social recognitions included "Model Worker," "Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker," "Outstanding Returned Overseas Chinese," and the National Medal for Outstanding Professional and Technical Talents. His academic achievements were primarily reflected through breakthroughs in catalyst development:

Ammonia synthesis catalysts

In addition to the A110-3 iron-based catalyst that earned the 1983 State Technological Invention Award, Wei's team also developed the A201 (iron-cobalt) low-temperature high-activity ammonia synthesis catalyst, which received the third prize of the same award in 1985. The Ministry of Science and Technology (China) also listed it among the 500 major scientific achievements. 1991, the team developed a small-particle cobalt-containing catalyst, ending China's reliance on imported British iron-cobalt catalysts. In 1994, the A202 catalyst developed by the team generated an additional RMB 500 million in industrial value and RMB 128 million in profit during its first two years of production. In 1995, it was designated a key technology for national promotion. In 1996, it received the third prize in the State Science and Technology Progress Award and the third prize in the Wang Danping Science and Technology Award of Fujian Province. The team later developed the FA401 catalyst, which reduced production costs by approximately RMB 3,000 per ton compared to A202 and was successfully implemented in catalyst plants in Shandong and Hubei. Wei's team also researched low-chromium and chromium-free alternatives to address carcinogenic risks associated with iron-chromium catalysts. 1994, they developed the B116 low-chromium shift catalyst, reducing chromium content from 6–15% to 2%. In 1997, the B121 chromium-free high-temperature shift catalyst was developed, eliminating chromium and reducing per-ton cost by RMB 750 compared to the earlier B112 catalyst. B121 received the First Prize of the Fujian Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award in 1998 and the Second Prize of the State Technological Invention Award in 2000. In the 21st century, Wei developed a new generation of ruthenium-based ammonia synthesis and high-pressure sulfur-resistant shift catalysts for large-scale ammonia plants. These catalysts underwent industrial trials at his death in 2014 and won provincial awards in subsequent years.

Automotive exhaust catalysts In May 1999, a vehicle exhaust catalyst developed by Wei's team passed evaluation at the Tianjin Automotive Research Institute and was confirmed to meet Euro II emission standards. The team subsequently developed automotive exhaust purifiers that successively met Euro III, Euro IV, and Euro V standards. In 2006, the FBD-type high-shift carbon monoxide catalyst received the First Prize of the Fujian Provincial Science and Technology Award. The following year, the project 'Development of Auto Exhaust Purifiers Compliant with Euro III and Euro IV Standards' won the same award. In 2008, the projects 'Development of Efficient and Low-Emission FD-type Automotive Exhaust Purifiers' and 'Three-Way Automotive Exhaust Catalyst and Its Preparation Method' were awarded the First Prize of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Science and Technology Invention Award and the China Patent Excellence Award, respectively.

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