A team of DEWT students won the 3rd Prize Award of $3,000 and a trophy in the Singapore Junior Water Prize (SJWP) Competition 2016 for their project entitled “Heavy Metal Scavenger of Dried Algae in Surface Water”. This win is the third in a series with DEWT student teams having previously won the Commendation Award ($ 500) in 2014 and the Merit Award ($1000) in 2015. This project is significant as biosorption, using algae, can be an environmentally-friendly method to eliminate heavy metals at low cost. The use of algae as a heavy metal scavenger can also offset the cost of eutrophication caused by the algae itself.
The project team consisted of Daniel Choong Zhi Yi, Ong Jie Jun, Donovan Tan Keng Xuan and Yu Jia Jia supervised by Dr Handojo Djati Utomo (ABE FYP Supervisor). In addition, the project was co-supervised by Dr Lim Zheng Bang and Melissa Ang from AMTC (Advance Material and Technology Centre).
SJWP is a national competition organized by the Lien Foundation and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and supported by PUB, Singapore's national water agency. In this year’s competition, there were 53 teams for the Main Category consisting of participants from Junior College and Polytechnics with maximum age of 19 years old, and 19 teams for the Under-15 Category. The final judging event was held at Ngee Ann Polytechnic from 26 – 27 May 2016 after completing around half year of their R& D work. Under the Main Category, 3 Main Prizes, 3 Merit Awards and 3 Commendation Awards were contested among the participants. The panels of judges consisted of academics from local universities and professionals from PUB and the water industry.
Due to the importance of the R&D component in this competition, good teamwork, aspiration, resilience and time management between supervisor and students and also amongst students is the key factor for success. Participating in SJWP is a challenging and long process as the selected students need close supervision from preparation, literature review, reporting, project execution until presentation of the projects.
Apart from acquiring advanced knowledge in science and engineering, the students honed their presentation skills from both Dr Handojo and Ms Lee Yoke Ling (CASS) during their rehearsals.
ABE- DEWT Team (in the photo from left- right) Donovan Tan Keng Xuan, Daniel Choong Zhi Yi, Ong Jie Jun and their supervisor, Dr Handojo Djati Utomo, during the prize presentation ceremony at Ngee Ann Polytechnic on 27 May 2016.
ABE- DEWT Team during judging at Ngee Ann Polytechnic on 27 May 2016. (in the photo from left to right) Ong Jie Jun, Donovan Tan Keng Xuan, Daniel Choong Zhi Yi and their supervisor Dr Handojo Djati Utomo.