A team of students from the U and Birzeit University in Palestine won an international engineering contest last month by developing a method to recycle harmful waste produced by olive oil mills.
The team won 20,000 euros -- about $29,400 -- to help implement the program.
Mondialogo, an organization set up by the United Nations and Daimler, the company that makes Mercedes-Benz vehicles, awarded the team as well as nine other international groups the Mondialogo Engineering Award along with the money.
Last month, Palestinian student Awad Nasser and Eric Mortenson, a U senior in chemical engineering, traveled to Mumbai, India, to compete with students from 31 countries at the Mondialogo Engineering Symposium.
The purpose of Mondialogo is to get students from all over the globe to form international teams to address a need in a developing country and to improve living conditions there. Students from the U chapter of Engineers Without Borders at the U formed a team with students at Birzeit University and began working on the project in December 2006.
"That's the objective of Mondialogo -- to start international dialogue," Mortenson said.
Olives are vital to the economy of Palestine, but toxic wastewater that comes from the olive mills contributes to ground and surface water pollution.
"This area is one of the biggest for olive oil in the Middle East," Mortenson said. "(Waste) is usually just dumped back into the ground, contaminating it."
Through e-mail and phone conversations, U students were able create a plan with the Palestinian students to treat the harmful waste and give the Palestinian territories an economic and environmental incentive to do so.
Christopher Fox, who recently graduated with a doctorate degree in bioengineering, said students came up with the idea to work on this problem after doing online research.
"We just jumped on the wagon, because it seemed like a good idea," Fox said.
The students discovered that through a process called anaerobic digestion, bacteria can be used to break down the toxicity of the waste. High-value chemicals are extracted and sold to chemical companies.
"We can extract chemicals from the waste and sell it on the open market to the chemical industry," Mortenson said. "The benefit is three-fold. It saves their environment, creates jobs and is overall good for the local economy."
Mortenson and Nasser presented the proposal to judges in Mumbai, including the president of the World Federation of Engineering.
Now students must take the project to the next phase -- figuring out the most efficient way to extract the chemicals from the waste -- a process that may take another year, Fox said.
The cash award will get the project rolling, but more funding will be needed to continue. The students hope to "carry the project through" and that the plan sparks interest with private donors, Fox said.
Although the United States and Palestine have political, religious and cultural differences, students from both sides were able to work together for a common good, Mortenson said.
"I made some lasting friendships," he said. "(The project) gave us an idea about the turmoil going on there."
c.mayorga@chronicle.utah.edu
