PETRONAS triumphs at IChemE Malaysia Awards 2019
14th October 2019
Oil and gas corporation PETRONAS scooped four of eight trophies at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Malaysia Awards this evening (14 October) for outstanding achievements in the profession in Malaysia.
The organisation was the resounding winner at the IChemE Malaysia Awards 2019, taking three highly commended entries for excellence in chemical engineering, alongside its winning entries.
PETRONAS dominated in the Oil & Gas Award and Process Safety Award categories. Its project Efficient Sampling Using Desorbent Sight Glass (DSG) was particularly successful in the early evening, winning the Oil & Gas Award and gaining highly commended in the Process Safety Award. The use of a DSG has reduced desorbent sampling times from 25 minutes to 2 minutes and could save costs of up to RM15,000 per year.
Later, the company went on to win the Training and Development Award for its project Process Safety R2C2. Based upon the Influence Model for effective change management, this three-year project has transformed the process safety performance and culture at PETRONAS Chemicals Methanol.
PETRONAS Penapisan Terengganu won the Process Safety Award for its project Early Warning Analytics Using DRA. Dynamic Risk Analyzer (DRA) is an analytical tool that provides early warning and detection of hidden near misses to engineers and plant operators allowing time for personnel to troubleshoot plant deviations to prevent unwanted incidents.
Sime Darby Research and Novozymes Malaysia were crowned the winner of the Palm Oil Award and the Sustainability Award for their joint project Enzymatic Assisted Extraction of Palm Oil. These organisations have developed enzymes for use in the palm oil industry that aid the release of oils by degrading the cell walls. This results in the release of more oil and the subsequent increase in the overall oil yield.
The Student Chapter Award went to Monash University Malaysia. The student team were presented with the trophy for forging links between industry and academia, and promoting the positive work that chemical engineers do to help address some of society’s major challenges.
Special guests the Royal Patron of IChemE Malaysia, Her Royal Highness Queen of Perak Darul Ridzuan, Tuanku Zara Salim, D.K, D.K.S.A, D.K.A, and YB Teresa Kok, Minister of Primary Industries, attended the ceremony to celebrate excellence in the chemical engineering community in Malaysia.
The final Awards of the evening were presented by the Queen, who is also a chemical engineer. She presented the Young Industrialist Award to PETRONAS’ Irene Lock Sow Mei and the Young Researcher Award to Monash University’s Serene Lock Sow Mun.
Irene Lock Sow Mei is a multi award winning chemical engineer who has demonstrated strong leadership qualities, a professional work ethic and shown that being a leukaemia survivor has not hindered her success.
She has led on numerous utility and wastewater-related projects. She single-handedly innovated the steady and dynamic state simulation models for Melaka Refinery’s Utility Water Systems to evaluate adequacy against brownfield modification. Her models have been applied extensively in other projects.
Serene Lock Sow Mun’s research areas include multi-scale simulation, modelling, process simulation and molecular modelling. She was commended for inventing a software entitled, Hollow Fiber Membrane Prediction Program, which has been a highly sought-after product in South East Asia’s oil and gas industry since it was commercialised in 2014.
The software is designed for companies to use during process design, scale-up, optimisation, retrofit, troubleshooting and performance monitoring in acid gas removal from natural gas. Its accurate performance allows the production of natural gas that is safe for the public to use, at the same time it enables the effective capture of hazardous gases and stops them from being released into the environment.
Ir Dr Christina Phang, Chair of the Board of IChemE in Malaysia, said:
“Congratulations to all the winners of the IChemE Malaysia Awards 2019. These awards recognise the positive contributions that their research and innovations in chemical engineering are having to solve some of the major challenges we face as a society, not only in Malaysia, but across the world. They are demonstrating that chemical engineering really does matter.”
The Awards were held at the Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. For more information on the IChemE Malaysia Awards visit www.icheme.org/malaysiaawards
Official winners of the IChemE Malaysia Awards 2019
Oil & Gas Award
Winner: PETRONAS Penapisan Terengganu - Efficient Sampling Using Desorbent Sight Glass (DSG)
Highly Commended: PETRONAS Research - CO2 Pilot Testing Facility
Summary of winning entry:
Creative Desorbent Sight Glass (DSG) uses the lean concept to improve difficult and inefficient desorbent sampling process/activity. The utilisation of DSG has proved to successfully shorten the sampling time from 25 minutes to 2 minutes. It also prevents the degradation of the desorbent, Para Diethyl Benzene (P-DEB). This contributes to a reduction in desorbent disposal. This facility operates on a closed loop system, making it an incredibly safe system for the operator. The innovation of this desorbent sampling process can lead to a cost saving of up to RM15,000 per year.
Palm Oil Award
Winner: Sime Darby Research and Novozymes Malaysia - Enzymatic Assisted Extraction of Palm Oil
Highly Commended: IOI ACIDCHEM - Waste Heat Recovery
Summary of winning entry:
These organisations have developed enzymes for use in the palm oil industry that aid the release of oils by degrading the cell walls. This results in the release of more oil and the subsequent increase in the overall oil yield. It has the potential to generate an additional revenue of RM6.6m per mill per year for Sime Darby Plantation and RM2bn per year for the palm oil industry in Malaysia. This process could also enable a 4% increase in production from the same amount of land, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9% per tonne of crude palm oil (CPO) produced.
Process Safety Award
Winner: PETRONAS Penapisan Terengganu - Early Warning Analytics Using DRA
Highly Commended: PETRONAS Penapisan Terengganu - Efficient Sampling Using Desorbent Sight Glass (DSG)
Summary of winning entry:
In a journey to achieve world class operational performance and maximising the value of integrated oil chain, while maintaining plant performance PETRONAS Penapisan Terengganu has implemented Dynamic Risk Analyzer (DRA).
DRA is an analytical tool by Near-Miss Management (NMM) that provides early warning and detection of hidden near misses to engineers and plant operators. The early warning provides time for personnel to troubleshoot plant deviations to prevent unwanted incidents or accidents.
DRA has helped PETRONAS save RM6.5m and develop a culture focussed on using insights to make the right decisions on time.
Student Chapter Award
Winner: Monash University Malaysia
Highly Commended: University of Nottingham Malaysia
Summary of winning entry:
Monash University Malaysia’s Student Chapter is a team of highly motivated and ambitious chemical engineering students that wish to share their passion by promoting chemical engineering and how chemical engineers are addressing the grand challenges that society is facing. The team has successfully organised numerous activities to support this, such as the Chemical Engineering Exploration Day and Biodiesel Research Project. The team strives to enhance its student members' study experience by bridging the gap between industry and academia, promoting experiential-based learning, and taking care of their welfare.
Sustainability Award
Winner: Sime Darby Research and Novozymes Malaysia - Enzymatic Assisted Extraction of Palm Oil
Highly Commended: Malaysian Pepper Board - Bio-pepper Enhancer
Summary of winning entry:
These organisations have developed enzymes for use in the palm oil industry that aid the release of oils by degrading the cell walls. This results in the release of more oil and the subsequent increase in the overall oil yield. It has the potential to generate an additional revenue of RM6.6m per mill per year for Sime Darby Plantation and RM2bn per year for the palm oil industry in Malaysia. This process could also enable a 4% increase in production from the same amount of land, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9% per tonne of crude palm oil (CPO) produced.
Training & Development Award
Winner: PETRONAS Chemicals Methanol - Process Safety R2C2
Highly Commended: Malaysia LNG - Dynamic Simulator for Process Emergency
Summary of winning entry:
Process Safety R2C2 has been a three-year transformation journey that started in 2017. It aimed to achieve the next level of process safety performance and culture excellence at PETRONAS Chemicals Methanol. Process Safety R2C2 was designed based on the Influence Model in order to effectively drive and sustain a cultural change in process safety within the organisation. Best practices were implemented to make this ambitious endeavour possible.
Young Industrialist Award
Winner: PETRONAS Group Technical Solutions - Irene Lock Sow Mei
Highly Commended: PETRONAS Chemicals Group - Ainul Najwa Sazali
Summary of winning entry:
Irene graduated with a Bachelor’s (Hons) degree in Chemical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS and was awarded the Chancellor Gold Award. She began her career with PETRONAS Group Technical Solutions as a water technologist in 2015. She contributed significantly to PETRONAS’ capital projects and innovative solutions for utility and wastewater, which has enabled cost savings, and improved process safety and environmental sustainability at the company. She was awarded the Associate Fellow for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Academy of Engineering and Technology and the Malaysia Ambassador by The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) for her extraordinary achievements. Irene has won numerous gold awards, including IEM Best Engineering Graduate, Most Inspiring Alumni and ASEAN Young Innovative Writer.
Young Researcher Award
Winner: Monash University – Serene Lock Sow Mun
Highly Commended: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia - Liew Peng Yen
Summary of winning entry:
Serene is a Doctoral and Master graduate in Chemical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. She graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Hons) degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto. She specialises in multi-scale simulation, modelling, process simulation and molecular modelling. Her research has enabled the development of a software entitled, Hollow Fiber Membrane Prediction Program, which was commercialised in 2014 and is still in high demand within the South East Asia and Middle East oil and gas market today. She has received awards for her research and been cited in publications.
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A group photograph of the IChemE Malaysia Awards 2019 winners
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Contact
For more information please contact:
Rachael Fraser, Communications Executive, IChemE
t: +44 (0) 1788 534435
e: rfraser@icheme.org
Ketna Mistry, Communications Executive, IChemE
t: +44 (0) 1788 534484
e: kmistry@icheme.org
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