UNS – The Chem-E-Car Team from Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta achieved a remarkable victory in the AIChE Chem-E-Car Competition 2024, Indonesia Regional. The “Balapan Team Chem-E-Car UNS” consisted of Ihsan Hafidz Salim, Evelyne Patricia Ngandiri, Septiana Nina Wulandari, Pramudya Paksidewangga, and Naufal Agdiffa Sulistyawan, students from the Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering programs at the UNS Faculty of Engineering. They were mentored by Dr. Sunu Herwi Pranolo, S.T., M.Sc.

The AIChE Chem-E-Car Competition 2024, Indonesia Regional, is a competition organized by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Indonesia. It is part of the AIChE Indonesia Student Conference (AISC) 2024, hosted this year by the Politeknik Energi dan Mineral (PEM) Akamigas Cepu. This event serves as a regional selection stage to choose the best team to represent Indonesia at the AIChE Chem-E-Car Competition 2024 Global in the United States.

The competition’s objective is to design a prototype car powered by alternative fuel based on chemical reactions that can be accurately controlled. Participants are required to create a car that can stop precisely at a specified distance by regulating the chemical reaction powering the vehicle.

“The innovation we developed involves a car powered by pressurized gas produced from the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, catalyzed by potassium iodide, which generates pressurized oxygen gas and water as a byproduct. The oxygen gas is then used to drive a pneumatic piston, creating mechanical energy to rotate the wheels. In the competition, the designated distance was 21 meters, and fortunately, our car had only a 14-centimeter error, which earned us second place,” Salim explained to uns.ac.id on Tuesday (10/9/2024).

Before claiming second place, the UNS team went through a document selection stage, where they competed against 15 teams from other universities. The documents covered the car’s design concept and safety measures. The UNS Chem-E-Car Team was selected as one of the top five finalists and proceeded to the offline presentation and race session at PEM Akamigas Cepu on Friday (30/8/2024).

HUMAS UNS

Reporter: Annisa Fakhira
Editor: Dwi Hastuti