Pukyong National University Student Wins Excellence Award as 'Young Scientist' from the Korean Society of Marine Environment and Energy

PhD Candidate Nurpahana Nabila Mohamed Nur, Undergraduate Student Igaryeong

Students from the National Pukyong National University won excellence awards at the ‘Young Scientist’ competition.

National Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-su) announced on the 11th that two students, Nurpahana Navila Mohamed Nur (Ph.D. candidate, Malaysian international student) and Lee Ga-ryeong (3rd year), from the Department of Ocean Engineering each received excellence awards at the Korean Society of Marine Environment and Energy’s ‘Young Scientist Presentation Competition’.

Students awarded the Excellence Award in the 'Young Scientist' category by the Korean Society of Marine Environment and Energy. Nurpahana Nabila Mohamed Nur (left) and Lee Garyeong.

Nurpahana Navila Mohamed Nur submitted a paper titled “Evaluation of Electricity Generation According to the Length of the Oxidation Electrode in Anaerobic Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells” (Advisor: Professor Kim Kyung-hoe) to the ‘Young Scientist Presentation Competition,’ one of the main events of the 2023 Korean Society of Marine Environment and Energy Autumn Conference held recently at the Yeosu Expo Convention Center, and received the excellence award for the doctoral course.

In her paper, she presented research results evaluating the amount of electricity generated and the degree of sediment improvement according to the length of the oxidation electrode in microbial fuel cells (MFC) using anaerobic sediment from the coastal area of Tongyeong, the center of oyster production in Korea, which earned her the award.

Based on the research findings that the longer the length of the oxidation electrode, the greater the voltage generated and the better the improvement of anaerobic sediment, her work was recognized as a method to simultaneously improve anaerobic sediment and generate electricity.

Meanwhile, student Lee Ga-ryeong received the undergraduate excellence award at this competition for the paper “A Study on Performance Improvement of Sludge Microbial Fuel Cells Using Carbon Nanotubes” (Advisor: Professor Kim Kyung-hoe).

In this paper, she presented research results on soil microbial fuel cell (SMFC) technology, which uses microorganisms to convert organic matter into electrical energy, enabling sustainable and environmentally friendly energy production.

This study addressed the limitations of this technology, which has a very low power production density, by incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNT) into the reduction electrode to improve reaction speed and electrochemical performance.