KUCHING – Hanna Maizura binti Mohd Noor Hazrin, a final semester Chemical Engineering student at Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, emerged as second runner-up in the Paper Writing Category of the Regional Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Conference (RCEUC) 2021.
Hanna submitted her Final Year Research Project supervised by Dr Chew Jiuan Jing, titled ‘Adsorption Performance for 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid using Oil Palm Trunk-Derived Activated Carbon’.
This project focused on the synthesis of an excellent adsorbent from oil palm biomass waste as an alternative to commercial activated carbon for the effective liquid phase adsorption of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, which is one of the most widely used herbicide in agricultural activities.
RCEUC is an event organised annually by undergraduate students from University of Malaya. Apart from the Paper Writing Competition, there was also the Online Presentation Competition, which were both evaluated by industrial and academic experts.
Led by Swinburne Sarawak’s Dr Mahmod Elhadi and Dr Siti Salwa Hashim, four students – Nuralya Alyssa Azureen, Ong Jia Ling, Justin Chua Cheng Ming and Hanna Maizura – participated in the Paper Writing Competition. Meanwhile, two students, Nuralya Alyssa Azureen and Abdulqader Mohammed Alawi bin Sahl, competed in the Online Presentation Category.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, these students representing Swinburne Sarawak’s School of Chemical Engineering and Science, worked hard to share findings from their research.
This year, the two-day virtually conducted RCEUC was held in collaboration with the Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Club (CEUC) and IChemE Student Chapter, and supported by IChemE and ChERaise. The theme of the e-conference was ‘Repositioning Future Chemical Engineers to Embrace the Circular Economy’.
These competitions were participated by undergraduate students from universities around the country and also outside Malaysia, namely the Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand. In addition, there were keynote speeches and forums delivered by professionals, who shared their knowledge and experience in the Chemical Engineering field.
Placing as second runner-up was a significant improvement compared to last year, whereby Swinburne Sarawak’s Chemical Engineering department managed to place Top 10 in the Paper Writing Competition. This achievement reflected the determination of the Chemical Engineering department in continuously improving and aiming higher.
By participating in these competitions, students can improve their research, writing and presentation skills, which are important as a graduate engineer. Moreover, these competitions also emphasise the importance of academic research in the Chemical Engineering field.
The winners of the Paper Writing Competition of RCEUC 2021.