Dong-A University Chemical Engineering Sweeps Gold and Encouragement Prizes at 'Chem Frontier' Competition
Eco-Friendly Bio-Material Research Using Jellyfish and Waste Brown Algae Draws Attention
Students from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Dong-A University (President Lee Haewoo) won both the Gold Prize and the Encouragement Prize at the 2025 Chem Frontier Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Creative Design Competition.
This competition, hosted by the Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers, was held under the theme "Designing the Future: Connecting Digital and Energy through Chemical Engineering."
The Gold Prize was awarded to the team "Jelly Powers," consisting of Sunwoo Kim, Yoonji Koo, Hyunah Kwon, and Hyungmin Byun. They won with their research on developing a next-generation eco-friendly aqueous binder for secondary battery anodes using jellyfish.
The core of their research is to utilize jellyfish, which are overproduced and discarded every year, as a next-generation eco-friendly bio-material. Collagen from jellyfish is composed of amino acids such as glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, making it highly pure and applicable in various industries including health functional foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.
The research team demonstrated the potential to address the toxic solvent issues of conventional PVDF/NMP and SBR/CMC binders, contribute to achieving the 2050 carbon neutrality goal, and create additional eco-friendly value by utilizing marine waste.
The Gold Prize-winning team stated, "The process of combining battery materials with jellyfish was a highly meaningful experience as chemical engineering majors," adding, "We will further develop sustainable material development and eco-friendly process research so that they can be applied in industrial settings."
The Encouragement Prize went to the team "Beokkaebi," consisting of Jungsik Yoon, Juhyun Lee, Sieun Lee, and Sooha Kim. They achieved results with their research on developing a BPA degradation system using alginate derived from waste brown algae.
In their research, they extracted alginate from waste brown algae, manufactured beads immobilized with laccase, and experimentally verified the BPA degradation efficiency and reusability. BPA is a representative environmental pollutant that causes endocrine disruption in humans and ecological disturbances. Their work suggested the possibility of overcoming the limitations of existing treatment methods through an enzyme-based eco-friendly process.
The Encouragement Prize-winning team commented, "It was meaningful to directly handle hazardous substances in experiments and experience what we had only encountered in textbooks," and added, "We plan to investigate the applicability to other hazardous substances and connect our research to industrialization in the future."
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With these awards, the Department of Chemical Engineering at Dong-A University has been recognized for tangible achievements in the development of environmentally friendly bio-materials and sustainable energy materials, further strengthening its competitiveness in future industrial fields.
The Department of Chemical Engineering at Dong-A University is receiving an award at the 'Chem Frontier' competition and taking a commemorative photo.
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