A proud achievement was once again made by Chemical Engineering students from the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Brawijaya (FT UB). Two student teams won Silver and Bronze Medals at the InspireX Summit Fest (ISF) 2025, which was held at the Indonesian Education University.
InspireX Summit Fest (ISF) is a national essay and business case competition event with the theme this year “Innovating the Future: Tech Driven Startups for Empowering Indonesia’s Digital Economy”.
ISF 2025 includes two competition fields, namely the National Essay and Business Case Competition. Participants in this competition are undergraduate students or equivalent throughout Indonesia who have the spirit and innovative ideas to contribute to sustainable development.
ISF 2025 was held from February 15-16, 2025 and was attended by student representatives from 55 universities throughout Indonesia, presenting various innovative projects from the fields of science and technology. The Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Brawijaya University sent 2 student team representatives with different innovative works.
The first team consists of Nauvaldy Basuki (2022), Zayyinna Fitriani (2022), Faishal Rifqy Nasution (2022), Atqiyatul Widad (2022) with an innovative work entitled PetraPedia. Accompanied by supervising lecturers Ir. Aji Hendra Sarosa, S.T., M.T. and Dr. Eng. Ir. Christina Wahyu Kartikowati, S.T., M.T. managed to bring home the Silver Medal after beating 29 teams that passed the selection. Nauvaldy explained that PetraPedia is an application for transactions, consultations, and providing information on organic fertilizers as a solution to soil damage in Indonesia
“This application is an application that contains 3 important features, namely the transaction feature as a connecting media between manure suppliers, organic fertilizer producers, and farmers to facilitate the distribution of each other’s needs,” he said.
He also added that this application provides a consultation feature where farmers can consult with experts regarding the use of organic fertilizers. Then there is also information in the form of articles or videos as learning materials for farmers and other PetraPedia application users in making good organic fertilizers.
The second team is the GreeNergy Team consisting of Athaya Devin Argyadama (2023), Amelia Syafa’atun Ni’mah (2023), Rikoh Saputra Asir (2023), Anjar Maulana Afriansyah (2023) with the innovative work “Optimizing Electricity Production Through Smart Eco-Friendly Charging Station (MECS) with Hybrid Plant-Microbial Fuel Cell Technology With Water Hyacinth Integrated with Cem Carbon Capture”. Accompanied by the supervising lecturer Ir. A.S. Dwi Saptati Nur Hidayati, S.T., M.T. and Ir. Bambang Ismuyanto, M.S. successfully brought home the Bronze Medal.
Athaya as the team representative conveyed the innovation offered by the “GreeNergy” team to overcome the problem of CO₂ gas emissions and the high need for electricity due to the transition of vehicles from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles is by creating a Smart Eco-Friendly Charging Station (MECS) tool.
“The background to our writing this essay is to see the condition of Indonesia which is currently in 7th position as the largest contributor of CO₂ emissions in the world based on IAE data, where 30% comes from the transportation sector. Therefore, in 2030 the government is targeting 2 million electric cars and 13 million two-wheeled electric vehicles as an effort to reduce CO2 emissions. However, currently Indonesia only has around 1,582 Public Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (SPKLU) spread across 1,131 points throughout Indonesia,” he explained.
Athaya also added that the MECS tool consists of 2 parts, the first is PMFC (Plant Microbial Fuel Cell), an alternative electricity source technology that utilizes plant exudates and microbes to generate electricity through anaerobic respiration. The second is CMC (CO₂ mineralization cell), which is a technology to capture and mineralize carbon dioxide (CO₂), capture and store carbon in a more stable form such as calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), while simultaneously generating electricity.
The electricity generated by MECS is around 148.64 kWH. When compared to conventional charging stations, MECS is superior. MECS uses environmentally friendly electricity with cheaper operational costs. Other advantages include being able to reduce CO₂ emissions with a by-product in the form of CaCO₃ which can be used as fertilizer so that it can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The success at the InspireX Summit Fest is proof that FT UB students are able to present innovations that can have a real impact on society. Both teams plan to further develop their projects so that they can be implemented in industry and everyday life.
Once again, congratulations to both teams who have brought the good name of FT UB, hopefully their enthusiasm and efforts can inspire other students to be able to work and be the best. [drn]
