Awards Handed Out at 9th Annual Capstone Competition

Sarnia, Ontario (March 21, 2014) – 53 students from Western University's Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department were at the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park in Sarnia today, presenting their final design projects to a panel of judges from local industry.

The 9th annual Capstone Design Competition provided graduating students of the Chemical, Biochemical, and Green Engineering programs an opportunity to present their design projects to local industry and community leaders, who evaluated each presentation.

“Capstone allows students to learn from the experienced engineers and chemists in Sarnia-Lambton,” said Katherine Albion, Bowman Centre Director at the Research Park. “The judges share their wisdom and practical experiences with the students. The students will carry the judges’ advice and lessons with them throughout their careers.”

13 teams of students presented in the Chemical & Biochemical Processes, Fuel & Energy, and Waste Treatment & Environmental categories. The winning teams included:

Chemical & Biochemical Processes
  • First Place: Caffeine Production from Green Tea by Carbon Dioxide Supercritical Fluid
    Project Engineers: Tanuj Dutta, David Edwards, Daxton Novak, Julian Smith
  • Second Place: Polyethylene Production
    Project Engineers: Helal Elkolaly, Benjamin Poitras, Mark Weatherall, Brent Weiler
Fuel & Energy
  • First Place: Shale Gas to Diesel using Gas-to-Liquid Technology
    Project Engineers: Tanuj Dutta, David Edwards, Daxton Novak, Julian Smith
  • Second Place: Production of Bio-Oil from Microalgae by Electro-Poration
    Project Engineers: Hecham Omar, Sarah DeDecker, Geoffrey Ankumah, Anna Maveal
Waste Treatment & Environmental
  • First Place: Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage
    Project Engineers: Balakrishnan Subramanian, Sean Devouge, Nicholas Tan, Jarrett Waldick
  • Second Place: Assessment of Waste Streams and Development / Design of a Process for Recycling and Conversion of these Streams to Useful Products (Dr. Oetker Frozen Food Products)
    Project Engineers: Chou Khat, Kristen Dorey, Leena Mohammed Faeq

Capstone sponsorships totaling $13,000 were provided by: Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, Bluewater Power, CF Industries, County of Lambton Community Development Corporation (Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park), Imperial Oil, LANXESS, LEHDER Environmental Services, NOVA Chemicals, Ontario Power Generation Lambton Generating Station, Shell Canada, SNC-Lavalin, Suncor Energy and WorleyParsons.

The Western-Sarnia-Lambton Research Park was created in November 2003 with the inception of the Community Development Corporation, owned by the County of Lambton. The Research Park manages and operates the property owned by the CDC. It boasts 270,000 square feet of leasable area and is home to a number of high profile tenants including Nova Chemicals, Enbridge, and WorleyParsons.

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