2 October 2014 – Associate Professor Dr Ida Idayu Muhamad and her team from Faculty of Chemical Engineering has won the Best of The Best Award during INATEX 2014 for her research innovation, REPID – active packaging design with insect repellent and microleak detector. She won the main prize of RM100,000 research grant presented by Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh Timbalan Menteri Pendidikan at Dewan Sultan Iskandar, UTM Johor Bahru. A brief description of the winning research product:

The innovation REPID, evaluates the efficiency of time-released encapsulated natural nontoxic insect repellents to protect food-packaging materials with both repellency and antifeedant effects on tested storage insects. These provide a versatile system to become integrated in and compatible with food packaging materials and, as a result, lead to effective and diverse pest-impervious packaging materials. When insects are able to penetrate the plastic wrapping and infest the food product, microleakage has occurred in the packaging. Hence this technology used colour indicator in which the changes will inform consumers much earlier that insect has managed to infest the insect-repellent packaging and leakage has occurred that could bring hazard to the safety and integrity of the packed food.

Another FChe project led by Associate Professor Ir Dr Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi from Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT) was awarded the Jury Award and Gold Medal for their product entitled “Optimal Site © – A Software for Optimal Total Site Utility System Design”. The team members of the product consisted of: Prof Dr Zainuddin Abdul Manan, Dr Lim Jeng Shiun, Liew Peng Yen, Siti Nuurul Huda Binti Mohammad Azmin, Wan Norlinda Roshana Binti Mohd Nawi, and Mismisuraya Binti Meor Ahamad.

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