The team from the Bandung Institute of Technology Chemical Engineering won the CERCo Scientific Paper Competition with an international event organized by Diponegoro University. Unmitigated, the team from ITB won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the competition. 1st place was won by the HAKA team! chaired by Timothy Weslie (13018044) with members Bryan (13018079) and Vincent Felixius (13018100) who were supervised directly by Wibawa Hendra Saputera, S.Si., M.Si., M.Sc., Ph.D., a lecturer from KK Energy and Chemical Engineering Processing Systems. 2nd place was won by the Provoje team with the chairman Habibil Ghifary El Imam (13018075) and member Desylionie Onggani Winata (13918099) who was also mentored by Wibawa Hendra Saputera, S.Si., M.Si., M.Sc., Ph.D. And the 3rd place was won by the Industrial Team with chairman Daud Aditya (13018059) with members Adhi Satriyatama (13018095) and Henry Susilo (13019096) who were mentored by Jenny Rizkiana, ST. MT, PhD.

The scientific work presented by the first team was entitled “Urea-Lignite Composite Fertilizer as A Promising Innovation Towards Environmentally Friendly Agriculture Industry”. This work discusses the alternative use of coal as a composite material with urea fertilizer. This composite fertilizer can reduce the denitrification process of the greenhouse gas N2O and increase the efficiency of fertilizer use for plants. This fertilizer is also cheaper than conventional fertilizers so that it can increase income for farmers in Indonesia.

The second team brought a scientific paper entitled “Comparison of CO2 Capture for Indonesia’s Environmentally Friendly Yet Sustainable Power Plant: A Case Study of Coal Fired Power Plant” which discussed CO2 capture technology or carbon capture for coal-fired power plants. The process of capturing CO2 aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power plant, but by producing products that are of sale value. The proposed process is CO2 absorption based on mineral carbonation, which uses alkaline solvent Ca(OH)2 and CO2 gas is obtained from the exhaust gas emissions of coal fired power plant. The products produced include soda ash (Na2CO3), CaCl2 solution which is commonly used for de-icing, and RO water.

And the third team brought a scientific paper entitled “Valorization of Carbon Dioxide Through Thermocatalytic Process into Value-Added Fuels Over Rice Husk Ash-Derived Zeolite Catalyst”. This work presents the latest developments in the synthesis of light hydrocarbons through thermocatalytic (hydrogenation) mechanisms. Process simulations, economic, environmental, and social impacts, as well as their prospects are also presented in this paper with comprehensive discussion and analysis. The process simulation software, Aspen Plus V.8, was used to evaluate the heat and mass balances as well as several economic parameters. The output of the simulation will be part of the feasibility parameters of this process for industrialization purposes. Based on these results, given the amount of fuel produced, the valorization of CO2 into a value-added fuel will enable a circular economy and alternative pathways to take advantage of greenhouse gas emissions.