This year, the Department of Chemical Engineering and student Chemical and Process Engineering Club (CPEC) jointly organised a group of enthusiastic students to participate in the Chemeca Future Fuels 2022 Student Hackathon, which was curated by Chemeca 2022 and the Future Fuels CRC.  

The challenge was to “create and pitch a conceptual infrastructure solution to transition fuel mixes to net zero carbon fuels, focused on land based-transport and heavy machinery industries across Australasia” via hydrogen or biomethane or other similar fuels or any combination thereof.

The team which represented UWA was composed of Jason Hemetsberger, Vignesh Alegesan, Truc Nguyen, Raymond Lee Gileno, Emma Bond and Albert Lam. The students proposed a hydrogen transmission network within the Pilbara region to support the uptake of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. 

The UWA team competed against 18 other highly competitive teams across the globe and achieved a robust position of an overall 4th/5th placing.

In the preliminary phase and over the winter break and semester 2, the UWA team produced an A3 infographic on their proposed solution. Their concept is to leverage pre-existing natural gas infrastructure like the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) and blend hydrogen up to an amount of 8% into the system. 

Image: The UWA Team was announced the 4th/5th National Finalist. From right: Jason Hemetsberger BSc ‘21, Vignesh Alegesan, Raymond Lee Gileno, Albert Lam BSc ‘22.

This method, partnered with other pipelines, creates a transmission network in which refueling stations can provide vehicles powered with hydrogen fuel cell technology to refuel. The surrounding mining or energy industries can also use the blend for their operations. 

The transmission network provides a coverage in the form of a triangle over the Pilbara region thereby allowing vehicles like road trains or mine-spec vehicles to transition from diesel internal-combustion engine to hydrogen fuel-cell technology, which will lead to lower emissions.

This proposed solution qualified the team as a finalist and provided them the opportunity to travel to Melbourne to present their solution.

The finalists were composed of teams from Monash University, University of Melbourne, UNSW, and University of Queensland. 

As part of the hackathon, all finalists had had the opportunity to attend the Chemeca Conference.  The forum broadened the UWA team’s horizon with highly intriguing presentations and offered an invaluable network to mingle with Chemical Engineers whilst seeking advice to build upon their proposal.

Apart from having the conference at the Melbourne Convention Centre, the UWA team also toured the Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Centre in Altona.

They marveled the history and context behind the production of the Toyota Mirai, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. This tour gave the team an insight into the Mirai safety features and its pathway to generate less emissions over its life cycle. They were impressed with the safety features on the Mirai despite the high-pressure onboard storage of hydrogen. In the event of a crash, the Mirai will crumple down in a specific manner in order to isolate the storage vessel to protect the users and surrounding environment.

The UWA team reported that they enjoyed all aspects of the Chemeca hackathon and were excited to present their idea on stage. Despite multiple days and nights of preparation for their infographic, it was heartening for their work to be recognised and acknowledged by the wider Chemical Engineering community.

The exceptional student experience has encouraged the Department and CPEC to organise a team for the 2023 round.  It will provide an invaluable national platform for students to present in front of Chemical Engineers, and offer a transformative experience to strengthen their learnings.