PERMATANG PAUH: UTM-NACES Team had drummed out an emphatic presence in the National Chemical Engineering Symposium 2013 (NACES 2013) after emerging champion in the category Technical Plant Design Competition in Universiti Teknologi MARA Pulau Pinang (UiTMPP). UiTMPP played host to this year event with the theme of “Carbon Conundrum: Unravelling the Enigma” and it was held from 8 – 10 November 2013. A total of 15 universities with a total of 237 delegates had competed to garner the prestigious award including UTM which were represented by UTM-NACES Team.
Under the guidance of Assoc. Prof Ir Dr Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi, UTM-NACES Team members which include Quah Zhi Yong (Leader), See Ming Twang, Lee Lin Zhi and Aw Yeong Pei Yee showcased impressive performance in designing a plant that is capable of minimizing the excessive emission of carbon into the air which comply the following aspects; environment, energy, economy, safety, health and infrastructure. The team proposal of “Waste CO2 to Wealth” which demonstrates the combined modified-fake tree concept and fuel cell technology had romped home to victory with their innovative and efficient plant design proposal. USM emerged as the 1st runner up followed by UTP as the 2nd runner-up in the Technical Plant Design Competition. On the other hand, USM managed to secure the overall winner while UTP had successfully gained the recognition to be the host of NACES 2014.
National Chemical Engineering Symposium (NACES) is an annual competition held for undergraduates Chemical Engineering students from all across Malaysia. It is a platform to apply the skills and knowledge they have learned. Till now, NACES have embarked on the international stage when is joined by several foreign universities around Southeast Asia and it has 6 categories of competition namely Case Study, Technical Essay, Technical PowerPoint Presentation, Technical Plant Design, Technical Video Presentation and Chemical Engineering Challenge (CEC).