KUCHING, 24 August 2015 – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in collaboration between University of Pannonia (Hungary) and University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus is organising the 18th Conference on Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES’15), started today.
Co-President of PRES’15, Assoc Prof Ir Dr Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi, said the aim of the PRES’15 conference is to review and advance the latest development and applications of process integration for energy conservation, pollution reduction and related topics.
“A green conference, which was founded by Professor Jiří Jaromír Klemeš, Head of Centre for Process Integration and Intensification, University of Pannonia, Hungary and being held in Europe and North America since 1998, for the first time will set its foot in Asia – Kuching, Sarawak.
“The delegates of PRES’15 will present comprehensive tasks of a considerable scale and widespread interactions to share the solutions to considerable academic and industrial challenges especially in the scope of green technologies, she said.
The four days conference has attracted 398 abstracts authored by 886 authors from 56 countries.
The event was officiating by Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sarawak Energy Berhad Datuk Torstein Dale SJØTVEIT and sponsored by Sarawak Energy Berhad as the main sponsor and supported by Sarawak Convention Bureau and Malaysia Exhibition and Convention Bureau.
Among the plenary speakers of PRES’15 are Datuk Torstein Dale SJØTVEIT, founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cleaner Production, Professor Donald Huisingh, and Professor Ferenc Friedler, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary.
An interesting, wide discussion raising talk is traditionally expected by Professor Jack Ponton, an Emeritus Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland with his presentation “Is The Future Really Renewable?”
PRES’15 will also present the traditional “Best Poster Award” – Gold, Silver and Bronze, to the best five posters, in memory of the late Professor Zdeněk Burianec.
Dr Sharifah Rafidah said, another attractive part of PRES conferences is publication of selected papers in “Chemical Engineering Transactions” and a number of Special Issues journals indexed under SCOPUS and ISI Thompson Reuters with substantial Impact Factor (Journal of Cleaner Production, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, Energy – The International Journal and Applied Thermal Engineering).
“This year, the conference bring new experience to all the international delegates featuring a unique Malaysian style event which is truly Malaysian, with coconut drinks replacing the traditional wine and beer, Tai Chi Gong evening move programme, traditional Borneo dancing class, a visit to Sarawak Cultural Village and Gala Dinner at the beautiful Santubong Damai Beach.
“The conference has been designed to be as Green as possible, following its Green Conference theme. Using recycle bag and reducing papers printing, the conference organiser pledge the delegates that any profit from the conference will go to charity,” she cited.
She said, PRES has also been supporting the Orang Utan Charity foundation with a dedicated booth to promote Orang Utan adoption programme. It has been a considerably boost to the publicity to Sarawak andMalaysia around the world.