On March 1st, the CITIES/NYUAD’s Team SaadiyaTech (previously Green Arabia at another event at the Expo Dubai Swiss Pavilion) participated in the Youth for Sustainability competition organized by Shell plc and INJAZ UAE, which took place at the Expo’s Dutch Pavilion. The competition’s goal was to design a collection and composting technique to convert biodegradable waste into energy for the UAE. The various UAE university teams participating created innovative solutions to tackle the Middle East’s growing waste management problem in sustainable ways. Specifically, SaadiyaTech’s students developed a project consisting of a small scale Microwave Induced Plasma Gasificator (MIPG) system, which, together with a small scale Membrane BioReactor plant (MBR), can convert multiple types of waste into clean energy for electricity, as well as clean water for irrigation purposes. After having conducted a meticulous financial, market, and regulatory analysis, the team, pitched its solution to a panel of judges and won the prize for Best Environmental Impact.
On Tuesday, March 2nd, the team SaadiyaTech (Nastassja Gerlich, Federico Jannelli, Elvira Selivanova, Yehowahi Sekan, Steffanie Dias) from the New York University Abu Dhabi won a trophy at the Shell plc – INJAZ competition hosted by the Dutch Pavilion. Special thanks also to their three mentors, Joseph Harrison (Shell Abu Dhabi), Prof. Daniel Johnson (NYUAD), and Prof. Philip Panicker (NYUAD), for their support.
