Led by Assist. Prof. Yigal Achmon, the research group focuses on issues including food safety, farmland degradation, and solid waste treatment. They aim to optimize aquatic waste fields through Soil Biosolarization(SBS). The team includes Research Assistant Liang Yancui and eight undergraduates: Wang Xiuqi, Lin Yu, Liu Xinya, Yu Peirong, Zou Yunfan, Li Yilin, Zeng Yuying, and Wang Yanbo.

Wang Xiuqi, Class of 2022, made a presentation on the competition
               

"Based on SBS, our team carries out the preliminary stabilization treatment of waste residue to produce biogas production with the high solid anaerobic fermentation method. Later, the waste can be transformed into beneficial fertilizer, achieving the goal of inhibiting bacteria and weed as well as purifying the soil by being mixed with soil at a certain ratio, together with field film and increasing moisture," said Wang Xiuqi, Class of 2022, reporter of this project on the day of the competition.

Students from Dr. Yigal's team read a lot of literature and prepared documents such as a business plan for the competition. "Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, our professors can't return to GTIIT, but we keep in touch every day using WeChat to discuss the latest progress. They are always willing to help. They reply to us almost instantly although we live in different time zones, even at 3 or 4 am, their local time," Zou Yunfan said.

Lin Yu said that the focus of the assessment is scientific achievements transformation, thus attentions should be paid not only to the project's technical part, but also to its market value. "Teamwork is particularly important due to the limited time available for preparation. Our members were divided into three groups with specific tasks - marketing research and analysis, product introduction, and coordination - based on their specialty." Lin Yu added, "although we have done a lot of literature review, we lack experience in business analysis. Dr. Huang Zengyu, a teacher from GTIIT Research, Innovation, Graduate and Studies provided professional guidance during the process."

Zou Yunfan said that the combination of technology and business impressed her a lot. "The new technology we have adopted provides unlimited space for industrial innovation. Based on experimental data and market reports, we evaluate the economic benefits of SBS in the Roding Organic Rice and Pangasius Bocourti processing to attract more investors."

Dr. Yigal spoke highly of the students' performance. "They worked well together and their performance is far beyond our expectation for undergraduate students. They completed the project presentation successfully and enriched their background knowledge for the next phase of the experiment."

"Our next goal is to achieve continuous monitoring of the degradation of different food residues in the lab through a unique system, and decide whether it can serves as an energy saver or not. This can help many agricultural and environmental protection companies to reduce decision-making risks and better exploit and utilize the resource contained in food waste," Dr. Yigal added.

"Our project became the only one presented by the undergraduate student alone since Dr. Yigal, leader of this project, was unable to join in person due to the epidemic." Faced with the serious competition, Wang Xiuqi believed that pressure makes diamonds. "The competition aims to build a platform for university-enterprise cooperation, promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and enhance the technological innovation of universities and their social responsibility in an all-around way." At the end of the presentation, Wang Xiuqi expressed that, we will work hard to live up to the expectations of society.

Text by GTIIT News & Public Affairs                

Photos provided by interviewees