Curtin Sarawak students present their design projects to industry experts

Miri – 7 November 2012 – Final-year chemical engineering students of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) presented their plant design projects to a panel of industry experts during a Design Project Presentation held at the university campus recently.

Design Projectis one of the units offered to final-year chemical engineering students. They are required to undertake open-ended group projects for 12 weeks that include scopes 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.

Upon completion of their projects, each group is assessed through an oral presentation involving academic advisors and industry experts.

The projects involve mentoring support by academic advisors and industry experts. The academic advisors meet up with the students on a weekly basis throughout the semester while the industry experts play an advisory role in which they share their industry experience and expertise and offer practical advice and feedback on the students’ design projects.

The projects showcased this year were on ‘Plant Design to Manufacture Formaldehyde’, ‘Methanol Production from Synthesis Gas’, ‘Plant Design for Ammonia Synthesis’, ‘Ethylene Oxide Production’, ‘Phenol Production’, ‘Design of an Upstream Offshore Platform’ and ‘Design of Styrene Production Plant’.

The academic advisors for the projects were Professor Yudi Samyudia, Dean of the School of Engineering and Science; chemical engineering senior lecturer Tan Yin Ling and lecturers Dr. Mesfin Getu Woldetensay and Dr. Hannah Ngu Ling Ngee.

Tan said the students benefit greatly from the involvement of professional engineers in Design Project as they get to interact with the professionals and obtain practical advice on their plant designs from them. She added that it also lends credibility to the chemical engineering course and that the Department of Chemical Engineering at Curtin Sarawak is continually looking to enhance its collaboration with industry.

Meanwhile, the industry experts were Yaw Sheng Ying, Maggi Jong Mei Ke, Sharkawi Wafi Azri and Amy Fong Yee Chuin (Sarawak Shell Berhad), Lam Ka Mun, Abdullah bin Hj Abu Bakar, M. Ilham bin Mukhtar, Chloe Tan Soo Kiet and Alia Rashiqah binti Abdul Rahman (Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd.), June Royjihok (Ranhill WorleyParsons) and Wong Kion Ming (Amserve Engineering Sdn. Bhd.).

Two awards – Best Group Report and Best Presentation – were presented at the end of the presentation. Both awards were won by the same group comprising Aaron Ko Zhijun, Mak Yin Yin, Vincent Ooi Wei Jin, Andrea Siew Shang Yee and Sim Yee Fang for their outstanding ‘Plant Design for Ammonia Synthesis’ project.

A student presenting her group project.

The winning group posing with Head of the Chemical Engineering Department Associate Professor Dr. Chua Han Bing (middle), Dr. Mesfin (4th left), Dr. Ngu (4th right) and Tan (3rd right).

Group photo of the students and academic staff from the Department of Chemical Engineering.