On Thursday (19/11), the Chemical Engineering Study Program of Parahyangan Catholic University (UNPAR) once again hosted a national seminar. The seminar that was held in the Galeri Ciumbuleuit Hotel was opened with opening remarks by the Rector of Parahyangan Catholic University, Mangadar Situmorang, Ph.D.
This seminar brought forward the theme of “Process Technology Innovation and Indonesian Resources based Product”; the choice of theme was based on the various research projects that focused on process innovation and chemical products based on local resources such as biomass and bio-hydrocarbon.
In order to further elaborate the theme completely, the committee divided the seminar into two parts namely the plenary and parallel sessions.
In the first plenary session, Ms Felysia Edi Soetaredjo, Ph.D, who represented Dr. Suryadi Ismadji from Unika Widya Mandala Surabaya, conveyed the topic “Biomass as energy Storage”. In her description, she underlined the importance of cheap and efficient energy storage media. Several usable biomasses are the cassava rind, durian rind, water hyacinth, and sugar cane dregs synthesize into carbon material through various methods. she proposed the idea that the carbon can be used as electrodes in super capacitors or electrical energy storage media with a capacity of 10 to 100 times that of batteries.
In addition to the discussion on biomass, in the second session Dr. Tatang Hernas Soerawidjadja (as the keynote speaker from the Bandung Institute of Technology), presented the material entitled “Process Development for the Production of Bio-Hidrocarbon Fuel”.
It is undeniable that Indonesia possesses a wealth of national resources not necessarily possessed by other countries; such as oil producing vegetations like pongnam, nyamplung, nimba, kemiri sunan and randu. According to Dr. Tatang Hernas Soerawidjadja, the wealth of natural resources has the potential for the development and commercial utilization of Bahan Bakar Nabati/Bio-fuel (BBN). He emphasized that the national energy sovereignty and endurance can be realized if there are multi-disciplinary applications of science and good communication between academicians, industry and the government.
The last plenary session also attracted the attention of the audience. Professor Yudi Samyudia, Ph.D from Curtin University Australia as another keynote speaker presented the topic “Innovation: Perspectives and Measuring It” in which he discussed how important innovation is for a country to develop.
In his presentation, he highlighted Indonesia’s 97th rank (out of 141 countries) on the Global Innovation Index and 42nd rank in Innovation Efficiency Ratio. The low position is due to the output of innovation being divided by a relatively low input.
He stated that Indonesia has the potential to move from a lower-middle income country to a high-income country, the key is innovation that will enable us to free ourselves from the middle income trap. In order to make a breakthrough, innovations that go hand in hand with strategy, resources, as well as government policy are needed.
After the plenary sessions were over, they were followed by parallel sessions. The sessions were followed by 47 presenters from various universities, institutes, big institutions and well-known research centers in Indonesia. Among them were two invited speakers who happen to be UNPAR alumni, namely Andy Gunawan, S.T. (PT Ecogreen) and Eka Linggadjaja, S.T., M.B.A. (PT Biotech Surindo)
The seminar sessions provided new knowledge to the participants. Therefore, in October 2016 the 2nd International Conference on Chemical Engineering (ICCE) will be held by still promoting the vision of the Chemical Engineering Study Program of Parahyangan Catholic University, to elevate local potential to the international level.
