HUAZHONG REMOTE INTERNSHIP

Wanting to gain greater clarity about my career and specialisation in engineering, I undertook a chemical engineering internship at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), with support from the Fung Foundation. The six-week internship provides me the opportunity to work online together with researchers from Imperial College London in an international renewable energy project which aims to extract and purify refined fuels from biomass to provide renewable energy resources for biomass pyrolysis plants in Egypt and China.

The project began with an introduction by Professor Hu Song detailing that the project can foster the collaboration between Egypt and China in using the abundant biomass and solar energy in Asia and Africa to create a sustain - able supply of carbon-neutral energy sources. The time difference between London and Huazhong may add difficulty to the level of collaboration and organisation of online international projects. Fortunately, the postgraduate students were helpful in supporting my part in the project and providing advice on the academic and career opportunities within the field of chemical engineering.

My role in the project was to create an overarching Life Cycle Assessment of the given plant design. The purpose of this is to identify areas in which these processes (e.g., transportation, purifying processes) are sub-optimally designed, and to suggest ways in which efficiencies could be increased, so that the environmental and economic impact associated with these processes can be reduced. The journey provides me with the autonomy and confidence in exploring creative engineering solutions and making research-informed engineering decisions. I am excited to see whether my ideas will be implemented. Overall, my time at HUST was incredible, and I am extremely grateful to the Fung Foundation for making it possible. This internship inspired me to specialise in chemical engineering in my final year of undergraduate study. I look forward to working with HUST in the future on projects that improve the sustainability of modern energy processing methods and contribute to the realisation of carbon neutrality.