The Semar Shakti Team from Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta secured the 3rd place in the national-level plant design competition. The team consisted of Nikmal Kevin Witjaksono, Dimas Rian Saputra, and Ibnu Tryansar Purba from the Chemical Engineering Program at the Faculty of Engineering, UNS.

The competition was titled the Indonesia Chemical Engineering Challenge 2023 and was organized by the Chemical Engineering Students Association at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). The final competition took place online at ITB on February 25, 2023. They were directly guided by Dr. Sunu Herwi Pranolo, a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at UNS.

"We didn't expect to win 3rd place because this was our first English-language competition. Additionally, this plant design competition coincided with our academic schedules, so we had to manage our time well and sacrifice some sleep. Finally, all our efforts paid off with the 3rd place achievement," they expressed to uns.ac.id on Thursday, March 16, 2023.

In the competition, which had 99 teams from various universities in Indonesia participating, Kevin and his team proposed the idea of green methanol based on palm kernel shell gasification. These final semester students explained that the increasing global population leads to a higher demand for energy. Meanwhile, energy consumption in the industrial sector ranks first in Indonesia, dominated by methanol derivatives (MeOH). Indonesia is forced to import MeOH to cover the domestic production shortfall, which could potentially lead to dependency on external sources.

"Palm kernel shell waste in Indonesia is abundant, reaching 3.2 million tons. Therefore, we proposed the synthetic methanol technology based on palm kernel shell gasification to create a sustainable, green resource, and renewable energy chemical plant by utilizing palm kernel shells as raw materials from the local region, Northern Sumatra. Green methanol, as the primary product and core chemical, represents renewable energy potential that supports the sustainability of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)," they concluded.