Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) Master of Engineering Science student Chen Zi Mun and her team were declared the joint winner of the Undergraduate Competition at the COINS Grand Challenge 2022 on 11 October 2022 at Birmingham, England.

The team walked away with a cash prize of £2,500 for their project idea— Food Waste Interlocking Concrete with Cladding (FWC+)”. Chen was assisted by Lai Jun Tung from Universiti Sains Malaysia and Hiew Wing Yian from Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

Speaking about her team’s project idea, Chen said, “The project is about converting food waste into cement that can be used in construction as mortar, cement replacement in concrete, manufacture concrete blocks and so on. The process of converting food waste into cement arose when we read about the formation of tonsil stones in the mouth cavity. From this inspiration, we drew up a process to extract the cement from food waste and the potential products that we can make with the cement. The product was the interlocking block that I have been studying in my research project. Next, we came up with the cladding to build the exterior for aesthetic purposes. To add up all the products, we came up with the short form (FWC+)”. Click here to watch the project idea.

Chen added, “The FWC+ was pitched in the UAiTED 2022 competition, and we brought this project idea to the COINS Grand Challenge 2022 in hopes of getting more feedback from industry experts. Getting feedback is important because it tells us if our idea is a practical and helps us find a way to start applying it in real life. Thus, winning this competition gives us the recognition that our idea is really unique and innovative and that we can bring impact to the construction industry. It also brings us confidence that we can work on this idea further.”

The COINS Grand Challenge is first and foremost a competition to find new ideas or innovative approaches that will solve problems and enable the construction industry to make a positive impact on society. Working with leading construction companies, private investors, venture capitalists and academia, the COINS Grand Challenge provides an opportunity for people to present their ideas to leaders in the industry, win valuable prizes and potentially gain funding and support to pursue their ideas.