By Nasrullah Uul (UKM Intern)
Pix Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 28 April 2015 – The National University of Malaysia (UKM) hosted the ChemE Car Competition 2015, in which the innovation and creativity of students were tested to the full by requiring they create small-scale model cars powered by various concoctions of chemicals.

The 10^th ChemE Car was launched by the Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Dr Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah recently.

Dr Abu Bakar said the competition provided a platform for chemical engineering students from all institutions of higher learning to showcase their creativity and innovative ideas in tackling environmental issues.

The competition with the theme ‘Guardians of Nature’ challenged every student team to create a shoe box-sized car powered by a chemical reaction which is more environmentally friendly than gasoline.

Fifty-five teams of 21 local and foreign universities battled each other at the Dewan Tun Abdul Razak for two days beginning April 13.

Also present were the President of the Institute of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Dato’ Ir Lim Chow Hock and UKM Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnership) Prof Dr Imran Ho Abdullah.

Ir Lim hoped that many more innovations would be produced since IEM’s establishment 10 years ago and he likened the 10^th ChemE as a place to find new talent.

He added, in the future ChemE will be contested at each university and the winner of each institution will qualify at the national and international levels.

The programme was organised by the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment in collaboration with IEM.

The teams taking part were judged at by their innovative and creative concepts, teamwork, user-friendly design, safety of fuel, durability and fuel consumption.

The competition was about working as a team to design a complex chemical process reaction to a tight schedule with a fixed budget.

The car must be able to carry a certain load of water and stop the closest to a specified distance.

The greatest challenge was that the contestants will only receive the load and distance information one hour prior to the commencement of the competition.

An important part of chemical engineering is the ability to control a chemical reaction and design a chemical process that is safe, environmentally friendly, cost effective and can be delivered on time and on budget.