Bronze Medal in Chemistry for a student of the Silesian University of Technology
Paweł Grzybek from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Silesian University of Technology awarded the Bronze Medal in Chemistry for his engineering work. The competition was organized by the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the DuPont company.
The competition was aimed at selecting the authors of the best bachelor's or engineering theses in the field of chemistry, chemistry and biology or chemistry and physics, completed and defended in the academic year 2021/2022.
The jury of the competition awarded our student's work entitled "Project of apparatus for pervaporation separation of liquid homogeneous systems", which was written under the scientific supervision of Dr hab. Eng. Gabriela Dudek, prof. of SUT.
- My work includes design documentation of individual parts of the pervaporation apparatus. In practice, the pervaporation process consists in the selective separation of liquids on homogeneous membranes, such as ethanol-water, using vapor diffusion. Thanks to this process, the desired ultra-high purity component can be isolated in an extremely economical way with low energy consumption. The designed apparatus enables laboratory measurements of the transport properties of solid membranes, e.g. biopolymer, which can contribute to even greater improvement of the process. In addition, based on the project, the apparatus was made and completed so that it can now be used to perform measurements at the Department of Physical Chemistry and Technology of Polymers of the Silesian University of Technology - said Paweł Grzybek.
In addition to the Bronze Medal in Chemistry, our student also received a special distinction from DuPont.
- Thanks to these awards, I became convinced that what I do matters in the world of science and is noticed by prestigious scientific units such as the Polish Academy of Sciences and DuPont - added the student.
Paweł Grzybek is currently a student of the 2nd semester of Master's studies in Chemical Technology (Faculty of Chemistry) and the 3rd semester of Bachelor's studies in Mathematics (Faculty of Applied Mathematics). For 3 years he has been dealing with the diffusion transport of alcohol vapours through biopolymer membranes under the supervision of Dr hab. Eng. Gabriela Dudek, prof. SUT, who is the promoter of his engineering thesis.
- Undoubtedly, science gives me great satisfaction, especially since I can combine my mathematical passions and use them in chemistry. I also see the constant need for further education in many fields and the great challenge faced by modern science, which should be focused on searching for the truth and solutions that will help humanity - summed up Paweł Grzybek.
