UCL win IChemE Sustainability SIG Macnab-Lacey Prize for Student Design Project Entry

(Winning team left-to-right: Spyros Dimoulas, Rhemet Chaggar, Tanya Ghannam, Serena Dosanjh, Simran Chaggar, Ashwath Manavazahagan)

We are pleased to announce that UCL have won the 2017 IChemE Sustainability SIG Macnab-Lacey Prize for their Student Design Project entry entitled "Biochemical Conversion of Ligno-cellulosic Biomass to Ethanol".

The Macnab-Lacey Prize is awarded to the undergraduate student design project team whose design project submission best shows how chemical engineering practice can contribute to a more sustainable world.

The undergraduate student design project team winners supervised by Daniele Pacifici include:

• Rhemet Chaggar
• Simran Chaggar
• Spyros Dimoulas
• Serena Dosanjh
• Tanya Ghannam
• Ashwath Manavazahagan

The overall objective of the UCL Student Design Project was to deliver a second-generation manufacturing process for fuel grade ethanol. The students improved and optimised existing processes to demonstrate how chemical engineering principles can improve sustainability. In their work, they focused on rigorous optimisation procedures; appropriate technology selection & modification; use of all by-products; environmental assessment and a target of carbon-neutrality, in considering economic, environmental and social sustainability.