Students of the Silesian University of Technology awarded in the Gold Medal of Chemistry competition

Łukasz Jakubski, a student of the Faculty of Chemistry of the Silesian University of Technology, received the Bronze Medal of Chemistry.  Łukasz and his colleague Mateusz Zygadło, also from the Faculty of Chemistry, also received a special award from DuPont.

The Gold Medal of Chemistry competition was held for the thirteenth time. Its aim is to select the authors of the best bachelor's or engineering theses in chemistry and related subjects.

In the competition, the third place, i.e. the Bronze Medal in Chemistry, was awarded to our student Łukasz Jakubski.  The award was granted for the work titled "The use of a combination of magnetite and a molecular magnet as a filling of alginate membranes in the process of ethanol dehydration using the pervaporation technique."

- I wrote the thesis under the scientific supervision of dr hab. engineer Gabriela Dudek, prof. of Silesian University of Technology We focused on an innovative approach to ethanol dehydration by using a membrane technique that takes advantage of the differences we observed in the interaction of water and ethanol with the magnetic field. In recent years, the growing demand for pure low molecular weight alcohols used as biofuels or disinfectants has prompted us to develop a new class of highly selective polymer membranes. In our work, we used the synergy effect of two different types of fillings, magnetite and molecular magnet, to obtain unique membrane properties. Thanks to the comprehensive analysis, we selected a membrane with properties previously unattainable for this type of separation, and the effect of our work was appreciated not only by the competition committee but is also the basis for a patent and publication in a renowned scientific journal - said the student.

The competition jury appreciated the uniqueness and innovation of this engineering project. The aspect that has attracted the greatest interest is its ecological importance and the use of the synergy effect, which is currently widely researched and described by respected scientists.

- In the context of sustainable development and the search for ecological energy sources, pure ethanol is an attractive alternative to fossil fuels. In Poland from January this year, E10 gasoline is available at gas stations, containing 10% of biocomponents, such as bioethanol, (previously there were only 5%). The process of selective separation of ethanol from water, which is the subject of my work, is widely used in industry, allows obtaining alcohol and bio-alcohol of very high purity, which find their applications in everyday life, among others: as fuel additives, but also as disinfectants - explains Łukasz Jakubski.