Two engineering students from the sultanate of Oman have been named joint winners of the annual Honeywell UniSim Design Student Challenge for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Honeywell Process Solutions announced on Wednesday.
Ahmed Abdullah Al-Maimani and Mohammed Nasr Al-Kindi, both engineering students at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, showcased their winning submission to more than 1,000 attendees in the Hague, the Netherlands.
Winners earn the chance to present their research projects to many of the world’s top manufacturers, and potential employers, at an event in the 2014 Honeywell Users Group (HUG) EMEA.
The students’ joint research paper investigated ways to reduce the emissions of hydrogen and carbon dioxide – main by-products in ammonia production.
“This project embodies the sort of creative yet considered thinking we need more of in the process industries,” said Ali Raza, vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s Advanced Solutions business.
“Using UniSim Design, Al-Maimani and Al-Kindi have created a clever solution for the process efficiency of ammonia plants. Potentially this could benefit a wide range of global companies.”
The student’s paper, supported by Dr Ashish M. Gujarathi, said it is possible to produce synthetic methane from these by-products and recycle it back into the plant in order to reduce the amount of natural gas required for certain production levels.
Honeywell’s UniSim Design Student Challenge is an annual contest designed to prompt students to solve real-world problems facing industrial processing plants by using Honeywell’s UniSim Design process simulation and design software.
