Curtin Malaysia PhD candidate and team in Top 20 of Youth Sustainable Project competition

Miri – 25 March 2022 –  Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) PhD candidate Melvin Wee Xin Jie was among the members of a team representing the IChemE Palm Oil Processing Special Interest Group (POPSIG) and Malaysia in the 2022 Youth Sustainable Project competition recently.

The POPSIG team were formidable contenders, comprising members of the interest group’s Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) team. Wee is the team’s Statistics and IKPO Programme Lead, while team leader Oscar Ting Teo Wei is Chief Manager of ICT, and teammates Kek Ming Xuan and Cheah He Ming are the Continuous Improvement and Future Development Lead and Graphic Design and Production Lead, respectively.

The team, who competed at the invitation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) Malaysia, was named as one of the Top 20 best candidates among 161 applicants in the competition organised by the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat and the Delegation of European Union (EU) to ASEAN.

The goal of the Youth Sustainable Project is to bring ASEAN youth to the forefront of the future of ASEAN. The project aims to encourage ASEAN youth to act and bring positive impacts to society through sustainable projects in their respective areas of interest.

According to Wee, the POPSIG team entered the competition with considerable experience from POPSIG’s own Youth Sustainable Project, which is committed to youth empowerment, gender equity, environment, education, and health, in addition to providing opportunities to youth to showcase their creative and innovative ideas to advance the palm oil sector.

He said the POPSIG ICT team’s efforts to utilise various forms of media, and the proper understanding of the youth demographic, was key to its connecting and delivering information effectively to them.

POPSIG is a special interest group of the international Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) that provides a forum to enable knowledge transfer, exchange of best practices and sharing experience to all that are interested in the palm oil industry. It is also committed to promoting palm oil-related researches among undergraduate and postgraduate students.

In addition, POPSIG regularly organises activities to deliver relevant information and knowledge in its commitment to motivate and nurture the younger generation to contribute to the advancement of net zero palm oil, gender equity and positive social health. Throughout 2021, it organised seven roadshows, a seminar and nine webinars, and had over 7,000 engagements on social media.

Reflecting POPSIG’s goals, Wee’s research project entitled Kinetic and Thermodynamic Analyses for the Conversion of Co-Pyrolysis of Palm Oil Wastes and COVID-19 Surgical Waste to Biofuel Production seeks to innovate an effective waste management solution for the abundant waste from the palm oil industry as well as the surge of COVID-19 related waste from the pandemic. It also aims to produce environment-friendly green fuels from these wastes via a pyrolysis process.

Wee’s team of project supervisors include principal supervisor Professor Agus Saptoro and co-supervisor Associate Professor Bridgid Chin Lai Fui from Curtin Malaysia; and Professor Jaka Sunarso and Dr. Chew Jiuan Jing from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, and Dr. Ir. Suzana Yusup from Tenaga Nasional Berhad Research (TNBR) as associate supervisors.

Information on Curtin Malaysia can be found on its website at www.curtin.edu.my, or look for Curtin Malaysia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

Melvin Wee Xin Jie, Curtin Malaysia postgraduate student and POPSIG team member in 2022 Youth Sustainable Project competition.