UNS – The P Balapan team, comprised of students from the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, achieved 1st runner-up (2nd place) in the 2024 AIChE Chem-E-Car Competition for the Indonesia Region, organized by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Indonesia. The final competition was held on August 30-31, 2024, at the Politeknik Energi dan Mineral (PEM) Akamigas in Cepu, Central Java.
PEM Akamigas Cepu served as the host for the 2024 AIChE Indonesia Student Conference (AISC), a regional competition aimed at selecting the best team to represent Indonesia at the 2024 AIChE Chem-E-Car Global Competition in the United States. The competition began with submitting vehicle concept documents and safety aspects, followed by a live presentation and race held at the PEM Akamigas Cepu campus. The goal of the competition is to discover the best innovation from students in the development of vehicles powered by chemical reactions.
The primary goal is to create a prototype car that uses alternative fuel, based on precisely controllable chemical reactions.
“Participants are required to create a car that can accurately stop at a specified distance by controlling the reaction. Our innovation involves a car powered by pressurized gas produced from the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, aided by potassium iodide as a catalyst, which generates pressurized oxygen gas and water as the byproduct. The oxygen gas drives a pneumatic piston, which produces mechanical energy to turn the wheels. In the competition, the specified distance was 21 meters, and thankfully, our car had only a 14 cm error, earning us 2nd place,” Ihsan Hafidz Salim, a member of the P Balapan team, explained as quoted by uns.ac.id on Tuesday (17/9/2024).
The P Balapan team consists of five members: Ihsan Hafidz Salim, Evelyne Patricia, Septiana Nina Wulandari, and Naufal Agdiffa Sulistyawan from the Chemical Engineering program, along with Pramudya Paksidewangga from the Electrical Engineering program.
“I hope that in the coming years, UNS can secure 1st place and represent Indonesia in the global competition,” Salim concluded.
HUMAS UNS
