From Republic of the Union of Myanmar
- Name
Than Win Maung - Country/ Region of Citizenship
Republic of the Union of Myanmar - Graduated from
Yangon Technological University - Department
Department of Earth Sciences, Resources and Environmental Engineering （Master’s）
JICA program for Human Resources Development for Mining Administration in Myanmar Scholarship Honor
How did you find out about Waseda University?
I have a friend who was graduated from Kyushu University. I asked him which university I should be applied for my master course study in Tokyo. He suggested me to go to Waseda
University and I searched through internet about Waseda University. And then I found my department to choose for my study.
Why did you choose Waseda University?
I want to study in mineral processing and recycling technology in Japan because Japan is technological developed country. I want to stay in Tokyo for my student life. Some
of my friends lived in Tokyo for a long time so they recommended me to stay at Tokyo and Waseda University is very famous in Japan and suitable for my study.
Before I entered to Waseda University, I got a chance to discuss with my supervisor and I believed that Waseda University can provide very well for my study so I decided to attend at Waseda University.
Did you have any concerns before coming to Japan?
Yes, of course. I didn’t get time to study Japanese language before coming to Japan. So I have concern about language problem.
-Have you had any difficulties when you started a new life here?
When I reached to Japan, I had difficulty to communicate with Japanese people because of language problem. Fortunately, I got good Japanese friends at my lab when I entered to the Waseda University and we can communicate with English very well. They always ready to help me and share about Japanese student’s life at the Waseda University. So, my study
life in Waseda University is really convenient because of my Japanese friends from my lab.
How is your life in Japan and Waseda?
I think it is really nice for me. I got not only Japanese friends but also international friends at Waseda University and could create social network very well. Japanese culture is not so much different with Myanmar so that is good chance to stay in Japan for a long time. Japanese festivals such as sakura (cherry blossom)-viewing parties are very interesting for me. Japanese standard life style is high and it is nice.
Academic life at Waseda University is also convenient for me because I have to pay one and half hours a week for one lecture. So I can use most of the time at my research work and I also have opportunity to study Japanese language very well. Waseda University opens many Japanese language classes and I can choose suitable classes for me.
What do you do in your free time?
I spent my free time together with my family and with my friends visiting around Tokyo, going to Japanese style restaurants and cultural festivals held in Tokyo.
How are the relationships with your supervisor and lab members?
I have strongly good relationship between my supervisor and lab members. They warmly welcome to me when I entered to Waseda University and they always give kind attention to me. They always help the best for my study life in Japan and point out the way how to study for my research. They take care of me not only my student life but also my daily life
in Japan. So, I very much appreciate my supervisor and lab members for their cooperation, kind attention and understanding upon me. I really satisfy for this relationship and good
environment at my lab. My supervisor helped me to choose the suitable research topic for my study.
Outline of the research
My research is focus on recycling of Cobalt (Co) from spent Lithium-ion battery (LIB).
I intend to investigate the process optimization of heating and physical separation for Cobalt (Co) recycling from spent Lithium-ion battery.
Lithium-ion battery (LIB) which is used for mobile phone, note book, electric vehicle, is a great secondary battery because of its high energy density, small size and light weight (Tarascon & Armand, 2001). The demand and consumption are remarkably increasing nowadays. Therefore, construction of recycling process for useful metals from spent LIB
such as Cobalt (Co) used in positive electrodes has been desired for future mass disposal of them.
Generally, first step for recycling process is grinding to promote liberation of useful elements and second step is physical separation such as screening, magnetic separation, eddy current separation and flotation, followed by metallurgical concentration of Cobalt (Co) metals. In this heating process, Co would be transformed to other mineralogical form.
Therefore, it’s better to control mineralogical form for more suitable one toward more efficient physical separation.
For my research topic, I would like to study the processes consisting of heating, crushing, screening, table separation, wet magnetic separation and flotation. Mineralogical properties of Co contents will be analyzed after heating and from their data, most appropriate heating condition will be classified from the view of mineral composition and grain size of each component.
My supervisor at Waseda University is Chiharu TOKORO, Associate Professor, Doctor of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Creative Science and Engineering, Department of Earth Sciences, Resources and Environmental Engineering. She is very clever and can provide knowledge very well for my research. That is the great condition for my research at the Waseda University.
What is your career goal after your degree completion?
My career plan after graduation is working together with Japanese companies in Myanmar.
So, I want to improve my Japanese language skill within 2 years study of master course.
Actually, I want to join to doctoral program but it will depend on the situation. I have plan to work in Japan between 6 months and 1 year after my graduation. After that, I will go
back to my home country and try to work together with Japanese recycling companies which have future plan to invest in Myanmar.
Short message to the prospective students
in English
Japan is technological developed country and uses modern technology for country development. Japanese universities are main drivers for sustainable development of modern technology and human resources development. Tokyo is the largest city of Japan and many famous universities situated in Tokyo. Among them, Waseda University is very famous in Japan and situated in downtown area of Tokyo. Waseda university student life is convenient and study environment is very warmly welcomed for international students.
You can learn modern technology at the Waseda University and create great network with professors, students and Japanese companies. Most of the Japanese famous companies
work together with laboratories of Waseda University so that it is great chance for the future of Waseda University’s students. If you ask someone in Japan especially from Tokyo,
you will be heard different kinds of good news of Waseda University.
So, I want to suggest you, don’t miss to pass your student life at the Waseda University for your brighten future.
