Students of the Geophysics Study Program class of 2021, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI), namely Adnan Hasyim Wibowo, and Stella Eulia Andok, along with his colleague from the Faculty of Engineering UI, Ilham Arya Satya (Metallurgy and Materials Engineering 2020), achieved achievements in the Youth Mining Camp Competition (YMCC) Student Paper Competition, a national level competition organized by the Department of Mining Engineering, Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Yogyakarta (UPN VY).
The team, “Dear Future,” won second place in the mining competition. The announcement of the winners and the award ceremony were held in person on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at the 2023 Indonesia Mining and Energy Summit at UPN Veteran Yogyakarta.
The idea put forward by this team is “Landfill Waste-to-Energy Power Plants in the Coal Mining Industry as an Advanced Waste Management Strategy to Achieve Energy Sustainability: A Critical Review.” This idea is motivated by the team’s interest in matters related to energy transition and sustainability. This is also driven by the three students’ experience in writing papers about sustainable energy in several similar competitions, and the knowledge they gained in college.
Through this innovation, Adnan and his team are striving to develop an environmentally friendly alternative energy source from mining waste as a solution to anticipate future energy crises. As team leader, Adnan emphasized that each member has a unique role and contribution to make.
“Ilham focused on the technical and analytical aspects, Stella assisted with the creative and design aspects, while I was responsible for coordinating the overall project. They also worked on the abstract together, while the full paper writing task was divided after completing the methodology. Stella was responsible for designing the waste-to-energy landfill, Ilham analyzed the technical aspects, and I analyzed the feasibility and sustainability aspects,” Adnan explained the roles of his team members.
“Initially, when the three of us were discussing, we discussed waste in mining industry which has the potential to be used as an energy source, and we also found out about waste-to-energy. But we have not found any research that discusses this issue in detail. waste-to-energy di area mining, apalagi yang manfaatkan landfill wast“Finally, we decided to propose this innovation,” said Adnan.
Their idea aims to critically review and design a waste-to-energy power plant in a coal mining waste dump as an advanced waste management strategy to achieve energy sustainability. This research uses the 4D method (define, design, develop, disseminate) as a mixed method that combines quantitative and qualitative approaches.
The team then conducted literature reviews, simple modeling, surveys, and interviews to obtain data on energy, economic, and sustainability analyses of various waste management strategies. Based on the results of this research, the power plant waste-to-energy proven to produce clean, renewable and reliable energy.
As much as 80% of the energy produced can be recovered and used to generate steam. According to data, each ton of landfill waste can generate 110.59 kWh, equivalent to powering three modern homes daily.
Landfill Waste-to-Energy Power Plants also has advantages compared to conventional waste management strategies, where its implementation is sustainable and has long-term economic potential.
“If this idea is widely implemented, it will not only help the energy transition process but will also develop a circular economy in sectors that implement this concept,” said Adnan.
The Youth Mining Camp Competition (YMCC) Student Paper Competition is a competition that provides students with the opportunity to put forward innovations and creative ideas in the mining sector.
