News from the School of Chemical Engineering

2009 Merdeka Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation

At the annual Australia-Malaysia Business Council Merdeka (Independence) Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation held in August 2009, Kenny Hwang, a Level IV Chemical Engineering student, received an award for an outstanding Malaysian student completing degree studies at The University of Adelaide. There were only two such awards and Kenny's prize included a significant trophy (made by Eammon Verreker, Adelaide). The patron of the Australia-Malaysia Business Council, Sir Eric Neal, presented the award. Attending the evening were the Malaysian High Commissioner, the Attorney General, the Lieutenant-Governor and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The Australia-Malaysia Business Council is a non-profit organisation that aims to promote the relationship between the two countries in trade, cultural exchange and educational services.

CHEMS Industry Night

On Thursday 2 April, 2009 CHEMS held its annual Industry Night in the Equinox Function Room at the University of Adelaide.

This event provided an opportunity for students, academic staff and members of industry to discuss the various roles of the chemical engineer in industry, in addition to providing information to students about graduate and vacation work programs. In a relaxed and informal environment, students from the School of Chemical Engineering and the Australian School of Petroleum networked with more than 15 prominent companies and professional organisations operating within the state and beyond.

Algae: the answer to our fuel needs?

Work is underway at the University of Adelaide to develop a clean, "green" fuel that could help solve the global energy crisis.

Led by Dr David Lewis and Dr Peter Ashman from the School of Chemical Engineering, the Adelaide research is part of an innovative $1.89 million project funded by the Federal Government. Headed by Murdoch University in Western Australia, the project involves research partners in India and China.

The project hopes to identify a clean, affordable method of producing biodiesel from algae on an industrial scale. With this in mind Adelaide's research team is investigating cost effective methods of algae harvesting and oil extraction.

Learn more.

We Win Again

A team of chemical engineering students from the University of Adelaide have won the 2008 Chem-E-Car competition. It is the second time in 2 years that Adelaide has taken the prize.

In the competition, small model vehicles no bigger than a shoebox and costing no more than $500, have to travel a certain distance, carry a specific load and stop as closely as possible to the finish line. Both the distance and the weight were announced only an hour before the race giving each team time to adjust its vehicles propulsion and stopping systems accordingly. The propulsion system had to be based on a chemical reaction with the stopping mechanism cutting out the propulsion once the required distance was reached.

The distance to be travelled was 15m and the weight to be carried was 250g. Adelaide's team used a lead-acid battery to drive an electric motor. The stopping mechanism was the depletion of the battery charge, with the distance travelled before the car stopped controlled by the length of time the battery was charged. Team Fluro's car stopped at 15.7m

This years winners were Team Fluro, consisting of Steven Dutschke, Nicole Hughes, Danielle Peddler and Joanna Princi who also won the poster competition.

Level IV Research Day

The School of Chemical Engineering held it's Level IV Research Poster presentation on Thursday, 16th October, 2008. The day was a great success with representatives from industry attending and assisting with the assessment process. Through generous sponsorship from industry, six prizes were awarded this year.

Hybrid Car in the News

The Advertiser has featured student research into alternative fuels as part of their 1° series of features.

From the article:

A SEARCH for alternative fuels has led a group of Adelaide University students to build what they believe may become the car of the future.

Chemical engineering student Tim Kenefick said the team's working model, one tenth the size of a normal car, was a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid vehicle that could be the "next generation" of green motoring technologies.

The remote-controlled car is hooked up to a hydrogen fuel cell and has access to electric power stored in rechargeable batteries, much like existing vehicles such as the Honda SCX and Toyota FCHV.

But hydrogen storage has presented a challenge to carmakers and the university team get around this by storing the gas in sold form in a metal hydride vessel, instead of a compressed-gas tank.

You may view the full text of the article on the Adelaide Now site

Excellence in Teaching

The Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education recognise the unique contributions to quality teaching by academic staff throughout Australia.

Dr Peter Ashman (Chemical Engineering) was one of seven individuals from the Univeristy of Adelaide to receive a citation in 2007. He was awarded "For the creative use of 'real-world', open-ended scenarios in Chemical Engineering to promote the development of not just skills in problem analysis, but the ability to perceive and to choose between multiple solutions."

Chemical Engineering at the Women In Technology Challenge

As part of the Women In Technology Challenge, 120 school girls gained a detailed insight into Chemical Engineering.

Participants were given an introduction to the discipline of chemical engineering by addressing the question: "What do chemical engineers do?". Afterwards, the key chemical engineering technology of fluidisation was explained and then explored in the laboratory. The session concluded with the girls conducting an experiment verifying that the pressure drop through a fluidised bed is independent of gas velocity.