LG Chem seeks unique ideas from college students

LG Chem announced on Oct. 22 that it held the ‘1st LG Chem - Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers Petrochemicals Olympiad’ awards ceremony on a metaverse platform on Oct. 21.

At the Olympiad that was held since July, a total of 1,692 college students majoring in chemical engineering grouped in 647 teams participated to suggest solutions to problems facing the chemical industry in areas such as ▲process safety ▲enhanced productivity ▲environment/energy.

Expert judges from the LG Chem Global Production Center and the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers selected one team for the overall grand prize and gold/silver/bronze for one team in each of the sectors based on actual applicability, uniqueness, etc.

The grand prize went to the Emergency Escape Number 1 Team composed of Park Joong-hoon, Park Sang-young, and Eom Se-bin of Hongik University.

The winning team’s embedded leak prevention wall system protects the surroundings from dangers such as fires by a dike buried underground automatically rising up when there are chemical substance leaks. The materials that flow out are moved into an empty space within the wall.

Nine other teams were awarded for their proposals such as process design for producing hydrogen fuel using by-product gas emitted during the naphtha cracking process, optimization plans for NBR latex production, RFID (radio-frequency identification) system that monitors mechanical defects of materials storage tanks, etc.

The awards ceremony was held on a metaverse platform so that the MZ generation can participate conveniently and with fun during the COVID-19 pandemic. Park Joong-hoon, who won the grand prize, stated, “It is very meaningful as we received evaluations that it may be helpful for the actual industrial sites. I have become more certain about my career path goal in petrochemicals.”

LG Chem will give a cash prize of 5 million won and internship (converted to full-time employment) per person in the team that won the grand prize.