The Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park has announced the winning projects in the 15th annual Capstone Engineering Design and Competition.
More than 60 students from the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Western University competed virtually on Monday, March 29 and Tuesday, March 30.
A panel of judges including local community and industry leaders chose the first and second place awards in the categories of Green and Environmental Processes, Specialty Chemicals, and Hydrogen and Fuels.
Green and Environmental Processes
First Place: Biogas and Renewable Natural Gas Production from Municipal Solid Waste Students: Shreel Pillai, Kneev Sharma, Priya Shrestha, Jonathan Taylor, Sarah From
Second Place: Conversion of Agricultural Waste to Biofuels by Microwave Pyrolysis Students: Jacob Tawil, Stephen Wihak, Evan Viola, Quinn Kovach, Aidan Lirette
Specialty Chemicals
First Place: Production of Biophenol from Kraft Ligin Students: Harminder Dosanjh, Radhika Majmudar, Chloe Smith, William Hong, Cindy Zhang
Second Place: Syngas Production using Biogas and Pyrolysis Oil for the Purpose of Gasoline Production Students: Miguel Gonzalez, Fareed Abuzaid, Nicole Cronin, Hanyoung Choi
Hydrogen and Fuels
First Place: Integrated Process Scheme for Hydrogen Production and CO2 Methanation Students: Georgia Auger, Seamus Glazier, Claire Moynihan, Matthew Tutty, Kathryn Zanetti
Second Place: Microbial Process for Hydrogen Production Students: Shana Alexander, Rachael Miles, Hanna Jedemann, Rukhsh Khan, Narisse Al-Salam, Yazan Hassan
"The annual Capstone competition continues to deliver a wealth of experience for participating students," said Dr. Katherine Albion, Executive Director of the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park. "We’re thrilled that this year’s virtual event continued to provide the students with valuable feedback from our local engineers and researchers to help form the future careers of these students."
Sponsorships totaling $9,500 were donated by: Bluewater Power, NOVA Chemicals, CF Industries, Shell Canada, INEOS-Styrolution, Montrose Environmental Group, SNC-Lavalin, Worley, Western Research Parks, and the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.