LKC FES student wins Best Proposal Award at APCChE Congress

Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with Honours student Law Zhi Pin and her team won the Best Proposal Award – Gold Prize in SDG Special Symposium for her research proposal on SDGs from Youth at the 20th Asian Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering (APCChE) Congress, held from 4 to 9 September 2023 in Manila, Philippines. The announcement of the winner was made on 11 September 2023 at SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay City, Philippines.

Organised by the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan (SCEJ), the participants were required to conduct research on a specific theme related to the “Contribution of chemical engineering to the achievement of the SDGs in the Asia-Pacific Region” and propose solutions to the problem.

Law said, “I was introduced to this event by Assoc Prof Dr Steven Lim, who was my FYP supervisor. I realised that it was a precious opportunity to explore the chemical engineering world and therefore, I decided to join it while waiting for the commencement of my master’s studies.” She also expressed, “It was quite exciting and interesting to form a research group with students and researchers from different universities and countries. It would be challenging to deal with people from different academic backgrounds and expertise, but it was a great channel to expose myself to different research fields in chemical engineering.”

By integrating the research topics of the team members, a proposal titled “An integrated multi-effect distillation and adsorption desalination-biomass pyrolysis approach for sustainable water supply” was proposed. This proposal fulfilled some SDGs, including Good Health and Well-Being, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy and so on. My team and I proposed to use the highly accessible biomass waste as the energy source to support the operation of the water desalination system for the sake of a clean water supply to the local communities.

The pyrolysis of coconut waste may resolve the solid waste issues and reduce the dependence on fossil energy sources which are non-renewable and detrimental to the environment. The pyrolysis products provide both thermal and electrical energy to support the Multi-Effect Distillation and Absorption Desalination system. Therefore, it is a solution probably applicable to remote areas where electrical energy and clean water are less accessible.

Law said, “I was surprised when I received the email about our winning from the organiser. The award greatly recognised our team’s effort in preparing the proposal for months.” She also noted that winning was possible because of the whole team’s effort. There was a total of eight members in the group, who came from different universities and countries. The eight members were Law Zhi Pin from UTAR, Malaysia; Naoumi Hasumi from Waseda University, Japan; Lin Jia Ying from Taipei Medical University, Taiwan; Jayson Garcia, Michael John Patron and Giancarlo Sanglay from University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines; Ella Poncardas and Kernel Raquel from University of the Philippines Visayas, Philippines.

Online presenters and their advisors

On-site presenters and their advisors

Certificate won by the team

APCChE 2023

The Asian Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering (APCChE) holds a bi-annual congress for the Asian Pacific community of chemical engineers, industrial chemists and related professions to come together to discuss the latest developments in their respective fields, to celebrate outstanding achievements and to share lessons learned. The APCChE Congress provides an opportunity for academia, industry and regulators to present and exchange ideas in the field of chemical and process engineering.

The APCChE Congress 2023 was organised in Manila, Philippines. This will be organised by the Philippine Institute of Chemical Engineers (PIChE).