Curtin Sarawak chemical engineering students awarded at Design Project Award ceremony

Miri – 2 December 2014 – Ten projects were showcased by final-year chemical engineering students of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) at the university’s Design Project Award presentation ceremony recently.

Team ‘Innovazione’ claimed the Best Design Project Award for its project ‘Design of an offshore prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG)’.

In second place was team ‘Green Design’ with its project ‘Production of Alpha-tocopherol from Palm Fatty Acid Distillate’, while team ‘ETBE’ came in third for its project ‘Ethyl Tert-butyl Ether (ETBE) Production Plant’. Green Design also won the Best Presentation Award.

At the ceremony, Innovazione comprising Aw Ying Yin, Chang Chung Min, Chen Wan Mun, Kristy Nyagang and Siti Nur Nabila Ahmad Shah, gave a presentation of its project to a panel of industry experts from Sarawak Shell Berhad.

Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering and Science, Associate Professor Chua Han Bing, and Associate Dean of Research and Development, Department of Chemical Engineering, Associate Professor Michael Danquah, were also present.

Design Project is a final-year unit of the Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) course whereby students are required to undertake open-ended projects for 12 weeks, involving aspects such as market and site evaluation, process selection, process development, health, safety and environmental compliance, detailed economic evaluation and detailed design of major and minor equipment.

Apart from being assessed for their report writing, each group was evaluated through an oral presentation involving academic advisors and industry experts.

The academic advisors have been monitoring the students’ progress through weekly meetings with them throughout the semester, while the industry experts imparted their industrial experience and offered practical advice and feedback.

The academic advisors from the Department of Chemical Engineering were Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning Associate Professor Perumal Kumar, senior lecturer Dr. Agus Saptoro and lecturers Dr. Mesfin Getu Woldetensay, Dr. John Lau Sie Yon and Dr. Stephanie Chan Yen San.

Meanwhile, this year’s industry experts consisted of June Janesby Roy Jihok, Mulyani Basri and Morgan Ting of Sarawak Shell Berhad; Albert Tjiu of Total E&P, East Kalimantan Operation, Indonesia; Yong Siao Fong of PETRONAS; Adeline Wong of Technip Consultant (M) Sdn Bhd; and Vignes Shanmuganathan of Rio Tinto Australia.

Other projects showcased this year were ‘Direct Route to Phenol from Benzene’, ‘Glycerol to Propylene Glycol’, ‘Design of Ethylene Oxide/Glycols Plant’, ‘Design of Methanol Plant’, ‘Plant Design for Ethylene Production’, ‘Formalin Production Plant’ and ‘Production of Light Olefin from Methanol’.

Associate Professor Chua Han Bing announcing the winner at the ceremony.

Team Innovazione presenting their plant design project.

Group photo of students and staff with the industry experts.