Annisa Nur Wahyuni, a student from Mechanical Engineering batch 2016 of President University, through her research entitled “Exhaust Energy Utilization on the Waste Heat of 3×1 Gas Engine Power Plant using Water-Lithium Bromide Absorption Refrigerant System”, has come up with a solution which can help people in Bawean Island to deal with the food-storage problem while also protecting the environment within the area.
Annisa got this idea from her internship experience at PT. PJB (Pembangkit Jawa Bali) UP (Unit Pembangkit) Gresik. While she worked at the PLTMG (gas engine power plant) 3×1 MW Bawean Island unit, she learned that due to the poor logistic system, people in this small island need a cold warehouse to store their crops, such as vegetables and fruits, also fish. However, she realized that the amount of electricity needed for the cold warehouse was too costly.
Knowing that the power plant was producing exhaust gas emission, she came up with an idea to convert the exhaust gas emission into energy that would be used by the cold warehouse.
“This finding would be beneficial to both the people and the environment since it would reduce the amount of emission and because it was exhaust gas emission that was used, people got a free energy source to power the cold warehouse,” Annisa explained.
In order to make it possible, she collaborated with the PLTMG Bawean unit that deals with the maintenance of PT. PJB UP Gresik. She also discussed her findings with Dr.Eng. Lydia Anggraini, S.T., M.Eng., the Head of Study Program of Mechanical Engineering President University.
Lydia responded to this finding positively and said, “A research that focuses on renewable energy is very important. Through the utilization of the abundant natural resources in Indonesia, there is a possibility that this country will produce more creative findings than others, of course, with the support from technology in the industry.”
Although it was not easy because Lydia and Annisa could only meet online, this research has successfully been conducted. For now, this research has been accepted to be published in the Journal of Key Engineering Materials, a Scopus-indexed journal, a result from the International Conference on Renewable Energy (i-Core 2019) at Malang.