Chinese distillation pioneer Yu Guocong dies at 100

TIANJIN -- China's chemical distillation pioneer and well-known chemical industry expert Yu Guocong passed away Wednesday at the age of 100 in North China's Tianjin municipality.

Yu was the pioneer of modern industrial distillation technology in China. He developed heavy-water separation technology, laying the foundation for China's nuclear industry.

Yu's distillation technology was also widely applied in China's chemical engineering industry. He carried out research on the technology of large industrial distillation towers, which has promoted the leap-forward development of China's petrochemical industry.

Yu has also made several achievements in the fields of gas-liquid interface and computational transmission.

Yu was born in November 1922 in Guangzhou city of South China's Guangdong province. He graduated from Southwest Associated University in 1943. In 1945, he went to study in the United States, where he was awarded a doctorate degree.

Yu was among the first scientists to return to the motherland after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. He began to teach at the Tianjin University in 1952 and continued working there into his 90s.

In 1991, Yu was elected as an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences.