Dr. Nair is a Chemical Engineer with nearly two decades of experience in developing and commercializing chemical technologies across the industrial gases, specialty chemicals, electronics, and pharmaceutical industries. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University in 2005, specializing in separation technologies with a focus on adsorption and catalytic materials. His research has been published in leading journals and presented at prestigious conferences, including AIChE and ACS.

An expert in computational process modeling, material characterization, and scaling chemical processes from laboratory to commercial production, Dr. Nair has demonstrated a strong commitment to bridging the gap between research and application while fostering sustainable practices.

Prior to joining Hydron, Dr. Nair held R&D and engineering roles, beginning at Praxair Inc. (now Linde Engineering), where he led the development of hydrogen pressure swing adsorption systems and advanced these technologies from bench-scale research to full-scale commercial deployment. He also developed dynamic simulation tools and advanced control strategies. Dr. Nair then transitioned to the pharmaceutical sector, where he led technology transfers, process optimization, and the introduction of new products in API manufacturing, effectively integrating them into existing operations.

As a Senior R&D Process Engineer at DuPont (later Chemours), he expanded process modeling capabilities, supported capacity enhancement projects, and contributed to sustainability initiatives within the titanium technologies business.

In his role as Process Engineering & Scale-up Lead at EMD Electronics, Dr. Nair oversaw the design, development, and commercialization of chemical technologies for capacity expansion and new product introductions. He played a key role in scaling processes from pilot to commercial production and implementing digital twin technologies to optimize manufacturing performance.

Dr. Nair’s expertise is centered around process modeling, scaling chemical processes, and leading cross-functional teams to develop solutions. His current focus is on advancing sustainable technologies and engineering solutions for environmental decontamination.

Dr. Ngai Yin Yip is a co-founder and CTO of Hydron Desal and is the inventor of the TSSE technology who continues to push the technology forward.

Dr. Yip’s research interest is in advancing technologies and innovations to address challenges at the nexus of water, energy, and the environment. Currently, the research in his group is focused on i) desalination of ultrahigh salinity brines, ii) zero-liquid discharge technologies, iii) advancing more sustainable decentralized wastewater management approaches, iv) efficient conversion of low-grade heat to useful work, and v) development of better membranes for environmental applications.

Dr. Ngai Yin Yip received his Ph.D., M.S., and M.Ph. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from Yale University, and B.Eng. in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Minor in Business Administration) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He joined Columbia University in 2015 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering.

His dissertation work on novel membrane technologies for the sustainable production of energy and water earned the CH2M Hill/AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award and the Henry Prentiss Becton Graduate Prize in 2015. He has authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications and has won the ES&T Best Papers (second runner-up in 2013). The techology won the GDIP global water award for impact in 2024.

Sarah Cone is a co-founder of Hydron Desal and the Executive Chairman.

She is also the founder and Managing Partner of Social Impact Capital, a venture capital firm that produces top decile returns by investing in the earliest stages in companies that are solving the world’s most difficult problems. Hydron Desal was incubated at Social Impact Capital due to the pressing need for widespread, low-cost desalination solutions.

Earlier in her career, Sarah worked for the consulting firm CTI, helping to restructure the R&D departments of large Japanese corporations. Sarah has also been an Associate at Illuminate Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund investing in B2B SaaS. She got her start in venture capital working for the “emerging technologies” venture capital group at Omidyar Network. Sarah has also worked in the legal department of Google, at the technology law firm Fenwick & West, Amazon.com, and at the technology policy non-profit Public Knowledge.