PROTECT is an international competition for students organized by Pertamina University through HMTM "SPRUDA" UPer, IATMI SM UPer, SPWLA UPer SC, and SPE UPer SC. The competition facilitates students to develop creative and innovative ideas for solving current petroleum and energy problems.

Team leader Alexander explained that there is currently an energy transition to renewable energy, but in between, fossil energy is still needed for the transition. One fossil energy that is cleaner than oil and coal is natural gas.

"The problem is that some natural gas sources are mixed with CO2 naturally, and so far, the CO2 is generally just discharged into the atmosphere. Then natural gas will become more 'dirty'," he said on Sunday (7/1/2024).

Seeing this problem, their team came up with the idea of a solution related to the capture, storage, and utilization of CO2 (CCUS) in the form of biopolymers through microalgae. Later, floating modules will be made that contain microalgae habitats so that they can absorb CO2. The CO2 absorbed into microalgae biomass will be converted into bioplastics that can later be utilized for various things.

The idea was outlined in their paper titled "Harnessing Chlorella Vulgaris Microalgae as Carbon Capture Method for East Natuna Gas Field with Carbon Utilization and Storage in the Form of Microalgae Biopolymer".

Through the presented idea, they won 2nd place and received the Ganesha Award 2023, Ganesha Karsa Category from ITB.

During the process of writing the paper, Alexander revealed one interesting thing, which is the diverse study backgrounds of their team that actually became an advantage because they could share tasks according to their respective expertise.

"From petroleum, the focus is on problems in existing oil fields, especially in Indonesia. For geodesy, the emphasis lies on location and potential. Meanwhile, coming from a mechanical engineering background, my focus is on innovation and applied solutions," he said.

He also admitted that participating in this competition was very memorable for him because he could learn new things from various departments. He also said that time management was an important key to the competition because he needed to allocate his time effectively amidst his demanding academic schedule.

"Well, only for this competition we have to dare to get out of our comfort zone. After that, we also have to be able to work well together even under great pressure, not to cause a commotion that can break the team," said Alexander.

Reporter: Satria Octavianus Nababan (Teknik Informatika, 2021)
Translator: Anggi Nurdiani (Manajemen, 2021)
Editor: Hanifa Juliana (Urban and Regional Planning, 2020)