Students from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Gyeongnam National University showcased an energy storage device made from discarded coffee grounds at the national chemical engineering student creative design competition, achieving top honors and ensuring all participating teams received awards.
The university announced on October 12 that three teams from the Department of Chemical Engineering participated in the '2026 Chem Frontier Chemical Engineering Student Creative Design Competition' held recently at BEXCO in Busan, winning the grand prize, silver, and bronze awards.
A total of 53 teams from across the country competed in the 18th Creative Design Competition for Technical Colleges, organized by the Korean Society of Chemical Engineers. Gyeongnam National University sent three teams comprising 17 students, who secured the grand prize in the PPT category and silver and bronze in the video category.
The grand prize in the PPT category was awarded to the 'Tanseng (炭生)' team from the Department of Chemical Engineering. They presented a project on 'Coffee Ground-derived Supercapacitor Coin Cell,' utilizing discarded coffee grounds as an energy storage material.
The students conducted the entire process from idea development to experimentation and analysis. Their successful integration of chemical engineering material technology and resource recycling concepts into energy storage devices received high praise.
Song Jeong-min, a member of the winning team, expressed, "The experience of brainstorming ideas and conducting experiments with my teammates will be a significant foundation for my future employment and social life."
Currently, the Department of Chemical Engineering at Gyeongnam National University is expanding its educational scope beyond chemical engineering materials and processes to include energy and future industries. The project-based learning approach, which allows students to apply their major knowledge to real-world problem-solving, has been credited as a key factor in this award.
Kim Byeong-cheol, the department head, stated, "Through the process of solving engineering problems independently, students have gained confidence in their major. We will continue to cultivate practical chemical engineering and energy professionals through project-based education that encompasses future industrial fields."
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.