Yeow Teck Ann, a fourth-year undergraduate in Chemical Engineering Programme, Xiamen University Malaysia, became the only recipient of 2023 IChemE Palm Oil Processing Special Interest Group (POPSIG) Student Research Project Bursary via open pitching.
Open pitching by Yeow Teck Ann, panellists from Desmet, KLK Oleo and other industry partners
Sponsored by Desmet Ballestra Malaysia, the bursary is committed to promoting palm oil-related research among undergraduates and postgraduates to undertake 6-month original research related to the palm oil sector.
This is the second time that this bursary has been awarded to Yeow Teck Ann and team for their project “Upcycling lignocellulosic oil palm frond and decanter cake as the substrate for Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) treated with bacteria”.
Dr. Tan Jian Ping from XMUM School of Energy and Chemical Engineering is the project’s supervisor, while Dr. Norazira Abdu Rahman and Dr. Hui Yew Woh from China-ASEAN College of Marine Sciences serve as its co-supervisors. The project will be supported and conducted at the Kelip-kelip! Center of Excellence for Light Enabling Technologies.
Left: Yeow Teck Ann; Right: Dr. Tan Jian Ping after the pitching session
Yeow Teck Ann watering the plants for the on-going biofertilizer research
BSFL frass possesses an enriched nutritional profile and moderately low C/N ratio which makes it a good organic fertilizer. Conventionally, the farmers apply BSFL frass directly in the form of solids onto crop fields. However, the immature compost of BSFL frass has been found to cause several issues that led to stunted plant growth mainly due to the presence of phytotoxins and pathogens.
In this project, it is proposed to transform BSFL frass through bacterial degradation with the hope of reducing the phytotoxins and pathogens concentration following its applications on plant crops. Subsequently, its production process would be modelled via deep learning to achieve optimal viable cell counts. The success of this project is expected to improve the overall economic contribution of the oil palm industry in Malaysia by upcycling the untapped palm biomass into value-added biofertilizer.
