KUALA LUMPUR, July 6 – The Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur successfully concluded its annual MJIIT Chemical Engineering Day 2026 on July 6, 2026. The flagship event served as a vibrant showcase of academic excellence, industry integration and innovation, highlighting the culmination of months of intense project design and research.
The grand finale centred on the highly anticipated Chemical Plant Design Project Final Presentations. Serving as the cornerstone project of the curriculum, this intense capstone experience challenged students to synthesise four years of foundational engineering principles into a single, comprehensive industrial application. It required a profound culminating knowledge of thermodynamics, process safety, economics and environmental sustainability to solve complex, real-world problems. To maintain global standards and professional rigour, a panel of 11 prominent industrial evaluators from top-tier organisations, including PETRONAS, ExxonMobil, DAR Energy and Worldwide Holdings, was convened to critically assess the feasibility, safety and commercial viability of the students’ engineering designs.
Reflecting the rapidly evolving landscape of global decarbonisation, student teams were tasked with addressing a pressing industrial challenge: the technical and economic limitations of hydrogen logistics. Tasked with moving beyond traditional compressed-gas or cryogenic-liquid transport, the future engineers designed large-scale chemical hydrogen-carrier plants utilising advanced hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processes. The projects required teams to engineer technically credible value chains, such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), ammonia, or reformable liquid fuels, to leverage standard shipping infrastructure safely and efficiently. This advanced problem statement pushed students to evaluate real-world public safety, whole-life costs, net-zero carbon outcomes and broader societal impacts, proving their readiness to tackle modern clean-energy bottlenecks.
Bridging the gap between academic grading and industrial reality, the engineering packages (deliverables) from the student teams were simulated to meet rigorous corporate expectations, positioned precisely between the Front-End Engineering Design 2 (FEED 2) and Front-End Engineering Design 3 (FEED 3) phases. The comprehensive deliverables stretched well beyond basic conceptual sketches, requiring students to present highly detailed Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs), Process Simulation, Effluent Management, Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), advanced Pinch Analysis for energy integration, comprehensive plant-wide control systems, safety analysis and definitive capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) financial feasibility projections.
The latter sessions shifted the focus toward professional development and inspiration, featuring high-impact talks designed to facilitate students’ transition from academia to industry. Associate Professor Ir. Ts. Eur. Eng. Dr Syuhaida Ismail delivered a sharing session entitled “Strategising Your Journey towards Professional Recognition in Malaysia,” providing students with a clear roadmap towards achieving Professional Engineer (Ir.) status.
Industry veterans Ir. Syahzad Samad and Ir. Eric Chua Boon How captivated the audience through a career sharing session entitled Beyond the Degree: Becoming a Trusted Engineer, offering valuable advice on ethics, accountability and excellence in corporate engineering. The closing ceremony concluded with The Last Lecture, delivered by the department’s respected faculty member, Prof. Dr. Azila Abdul Aziz. Reflecting on her more than 30-year academic journey, she shared inspiring parting words with the graduating class as they prepared to embark on their professional careers.
The day also expanded its horizons this year by featuring two major parallel academic sessions: the Final Year Project (FYP) Symposium (26th Jun 2026) and the Individual Equipment Design Poster Exhibition (27th April 2026), in which graduating students presented their research and specialised technical discoveries to panels of experts.
What set this year’s design projects apart was the comprehensive, real-world industry integration spanning two consecutive semesters. Students navigated the rigorous demands of two core capstone modules, namely SMJC4343 (Chemical Process Design) and SMJC4824 (Chemical Plant Design Project). To bridge the gap between academic theory and complex engineering practices, student teams benefited from a robust dual-supervision model. Alongside dedicated MJIIT academic supervisors who provided deep theoretical and methodological frameworks, five esteemed industrial supervisors were embedded directly within the teams to offer strategic, real-world corporate mentorship from Honeywell International, PETRONAS, QatarEnergy and DAR Energy.
To complement these simulated design efforts with authentic site exposure, the cohort also undertook an immersive industrial visit to the BASF-PETRONAS Chemicals facility in Gebeng. This field experience allowed students to observe full-scale reaction and separation systems firsthand, helping them visualise real-world spatial constraints, process safety flows and utility networks, which they later successfully integrated into their design project defences.
Beyond the design floor, the curriculum incorporated extensive professional enrichment programs to prepare students for the fast-paced engineering sector.
Aligning with the project deliverables, six comprehensive Industrial Sharing Sessions were conducted with industry experts from Honeywell International, ExxonMobil, Galaxy Tech Solutions, Optimal Systems Engineering (OPTIMISE) and PETRONAS.
The sessions covered key operational areas, including Industrial Practices of Chemical Process Design, Workshop on Process Simulation using Honeywell UNISIM, Sustainability and Net Zero Emissions, Energy and Resource Conservation in Process Plant Design, Process Control in Process Plant Design, and Process Economics in Process Plant Design.
In line with these technical sharing sessions, MJIIT extends its profound appreciation and gratitude to Honeywell for generously providing the UniSim® Design simulation software. The integration of this industry-standard software into the curriculum significantly empowered the teaching and learning process, allowing students to accurately model complex chemical processes, conduct rigorous steady-state evaluations and build high-fidelity plant simulations that met strict professional benchmarks.
Complementing the technical mastery were dynamic team-building sessions led by dedicated industry coaches from Usaha Tegas, Exelient Consulting, PETRONAS, and PeopleHive Consulting, equipping students with vital soft skills and a collaborative mindset. The highlight of these sessions was the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Game, a fast-paced global simulation that challenged students to balance financial growth with social and environmental sustainability. Through this, future engineers gained a firsthand understanding of how their technical choices impact world systems, reinforcing the core principles of sustainable engineering.
To translate these high-level concepts into actionable teamwork, students participated in LEGO® Serious Play® and structured building-block activities specifically designed to highlight the critical importance of communication and active listening in engineering projects. These hands-on exercises allowed students to physically model complex ideas, break down communication barriers and unpack team dynamics. The session culminated in the collaborative creation of a formal Team Contract, allowing the design teams to align their shared goals, expectations and operational values with unparalleled clarity before their final presentations.
In recognition of outstanding technical competence and innovation, the event reached an exciting peak with the presentation of the competitive student awards.
The top honours were awarded to several outstanding recipients in recognition of their exemplary performance. Ahmad Adam Ismail Abd Hafi received both the Best Individual Equipment Design Presentation Award 2026 and the Best Final Year Project (FYP) Presentation Award 2026.
Meanwhile, the Best Chemical Plant Design Project Presentation Award 2026 was presented to Haridharan Nadarajan, Nurriena Allieya Norhisham, Muhammad Hanish Danial Mohd Haniszam and Diandra Azeeza Ridho.
In conclusion, the high technical rigour and professional demands of the Chemical Plant Design Project and the MJIIT Chemical Engineering Day 2026 proved that MJIIT continues to produce highly competent, industry-ready graduates who are fully equipped with the technical mastery, soft skills, and strategic mindset needed to seamlessly transition into the global engineering workforce and become the clean-energy leaders of tomorrow.
MJIIT UTM extends its heartfelt gratitude to all academic and industrial supervisors, partners, evaluators and students who helped make the Chemical Plant Design Project and MJIIT Chemical Engineering Day 2026 a resounding success.
Reported by: Assoc. Prof. Ir. Ts. Dr Liew Peng Yen and Dr. Ahmad Aiman Azmi, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, UTM