Home > NEWS > Recycling pineapple waste and converting invasive plants to biofuel

Recycling pineapple waste and converting invasive plants to biofuel

Published: Friday 13th November 2020
Categories: NEWS, INCLUSIVE RESEARCH
Tags: , , , , ,

Winning researchers behind green technologies awarded in the Elsevier Foundation-ISC3 Green & Sustainable Chemistry Challenge

Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge winners collage
First-prize winner Dr Carolina Parada with her students in their lab at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima, Peru, where they are working on the pre-treatment of cocoa pods and pineapple leaves. Second-prize winner Clifford Okoth Owino, CEO and co-founder of Chemolex, in front of an image from his project that involves converting hyacinth plants to affordable biofuel.

The fifth edition of the Elsevier Foundation-ISC3 Green & Sustainable Chemistry Challenge received 318 proposals from 69 countries. This week, the top awards were presented to researchers who created low-cost solutions to turn cocoa husks into furniture — and transform water hyacinth into biofuel.

Dr. Diana Carolina Parada Quinayá, a Colombian chemical engineer and professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima, Peru, was awarded a first prize of €50,000 to for her “Use of cocoa waste for green composites production in Pangoa” proposal.

The second prize of €25,000 went to Clifford Okoth Owino of Nairobi, Kenya, CEO and co-founder of Chemolex, for his project “Ecofuel/Chemolex.”

The five finalists presented their projects virtually at the 5th Green & Sustainable Chemistry Conference.

Read the full article on Elsevier Connect “Recycling pineapple waste and converting invasive plants to biofuel“, Domiziana Francescon, 13 November 2020.

Partners