CBE students solve real-world and industrial problems

The Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Western University, in collaboration with the Western Research Park Sarnia-Lambton, held the 17th Annual Capstone Design Project Presentation and Competition on March 31, 2023. Fourth-year graduating students in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering (CBE) and in Green Process Engineering presented their Process Plant Design solutions.

"The Capstone project is an opportunity for our fourth-year undergraduate students to work in teams on specific process design projects to address and offer solutions for real-world and industrial problems," says Amarjeet Bassi, Western Engineering professor and CBE chair. "This showcase is the culmination of the intensive training acquired in the chemical and biochemical engineering program."

This year, 51 students in 11 teams were tasked with designing chemical, biochemical, and green processes and equipment through creative problem-solving and teamwork by applying basic chemical engineering principles and economics learned in previous courses. 

Students were competing in three categories this year: biomass thermochemical conversion processes, carbon dioxide utilization and hydrogen production, and chemical production and resource recovery. 

Winners

In the category of Biomass Thermochemical Conversion Processes:

1st Place: Blue Ammonia Production from Sugarcane Bagasse

Adi Venkatesh, Nicole Davies, Jay Sangameswar, Nicholas Sanghera, Jovan Williams

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2nd Place: Forest Residues to Ethanol via Gassification and Mixed Alcohol Synthesis

Austin Dearlove, Jack Woodall, Mia Van Oirschot, Vanessa Benitah

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In the category of Carbon Dioxide Utilization and Hydrogen Production:

1st Place: AquaGen: Generating Aqua Hydrogen Through Methane Pyrolysis

Kaitlin Cacic, Chloe Chong, Monica Perlotto, Ciara Pinto, Cole Beattie

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2nd Place: Utilizing Industrial CO2 Emissions in the Production of Green Methanol

Abubaker Elneihoum, Vince Jiang, Adam Shubert, Basil Zammo, Michael Zeljeznjak

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In the category of Chemical Production and Resource Recovery:

1st Place: BAJA ME Ltd. - Bioethanol Fuel Production from Sugar Beet Fermentation

Megan Estabrooks, Erin McLean, Brooke Crawford, Jessica Sprunt, Alyssia Burgos, Adam Sawyer

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2nd Place: Co-Product Recovery from Sugarcane Bioethanol Production

Alexander Law, Andrew Markham, Isabella Parent, Ashley Richard, Mark Soeder

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