University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM) students Ang Jia Chun, Aw Wei Xin, Lau Yi Xaun and Shawn Ee have emerged as the champions at the 9th Chemical Engineering Design Competition 2020/2021, organised by the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM). The competition was first announced in August 2020 and culminated with the final presentation on 29th May 2021. Due to the Movement Control Order, most elements of the competition were held online, which include the workshops for students, and the final presentation.
The chemical engineering students, who are currently in year 3, were involved in a project entitled ‘Production of Isopropanol as the Raw Material of Hand Sanitiser’, which was supervised by Dr Vasanthi Sethu. The objective of this project was to manufacture isopropanol, which is used in the production of hand sanitisers. This project is timely as the demand for hand sanitisers grows exponentially due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The IEM Chemical Engineering Design Competition is a national level competition organised by the Chemical Engineering Technical Division (CETD) of IEM. This annual competition is open to all chemical engineering students from higher education institutions across the country.
The competition aims to provide chemical engineering students with the opportunity to enhance their design competency using skills and knowledge that they have gained during the course of their programme.
“All the hard work has paid off. Well done students! We are very proud of you,” said Dr Vasanthi.
“It is a tough challenge for our students, as they are in year 3, and having to compete with students from other universities, who are mostly in year 4 of their study. Nevertheless, this proves the quality of our students. This is the second time our students have emerged as champions since the start of the competition in 2012. The last time our student emerged as champion was during the 2015/16 session,” said University of Nottingham Malaysia Head of Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Professor Dominic Foo.
