(from left) Reza Aulia Akbar ST MT MBA and Satrio Samudro Aji Basuki ST MT MBA when receiving the Gold Winner award at the Chemical Industrial Downstream Challenge (CIDC) 2025 event.

ITS Campus, ITS News — Not only students, but also educational staff or lecturers of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) have also carved a brilliant achievement. This time, a team of lecturers from the ITS Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering successfully won Gold Winner in the Chemical Industrial Downstream Challenge (CIDC) 2025 event organized by PT Petrokimia Gresik and placed ITS in the Best position in the Non-Student International Competition category.

The lecturer team, which consists of Reza Aulia Akbar ST MT MBA and Satrio Samudro Aji Basuki ST MT MBA, brought forth an innovation named BioSweetPEF. This project innovatively utilizes agro-industrial waste, namely molasses and sugarcane bagasse, which are processed into environmentally friendly bioplastic. “Through an advanced chemical process, the sugarcane waste is transformed into polyethylene furanoate (PEF),” said Reza.

Reza Aulia Akbar ST MT MBA while explaining the BioSweetPEF innovation from his team which won Gold Winner at the CIDC 2025 event.

In the process of developing this innovation, the ITS team focused on designing the manufacturing system, efficient production flow, project management, and financial feasibility. Not only that, this team also partnered with one of Indonesia’s researchers, Nurwarrohman Andre Sasongko SSi MSc, who is studying at Pukyong National University, South Korea. “We needed an expert in the field of chemistry for material synthesis to ensure the chemical process ran effectively,” Reza explained.

Furthermore, Reza laid out that the BioSweetPEF innovation integrates the use of hydrochloric acid byproduct from PT Petrokimia Gresik. This integration plays a very wide role in overcoming environmental problems. Starting from solving industrial waste issues to offering an environmentally friendly bioplastic alternative, thus creating a sustainable solution.

One of the researchers from Indonesia, Nurwarrohman Andre Sasongko SSi MSc, who is currently researching the BioSweetPEF innovation at Pukyong National University, South Korea.

From the economic side, the resulting PEF shows that this project has a strong and promising financial profile. PEF, which is a bioplastic, has a wide potential in the premium packaging sector for food, beverages, and cosmetics. This advantage also gives the ITS lecturer team a benefit as the first to enter the PEF bioplastic market in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.

The success of this lecturer team is not only a personal achievement but also brings an inspirational message to the ITS academic community. Reza asserted that this research collaboration with the industry does not just stop at the competition but can continue to the implementation stage. “For example, this idea could become an embryo that is continued into a community service program or even commercialization,” he stated.

The diagram of the production process and technology for the BioSweetPEF of the lecturer team from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering ITS which won Gold Winner at the CIDC 2025 event.

Not only that, the achievement of the DTSI ITS lecturer team also contributes to the success of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) point 12. This BioSweetPEF innovation realizes the implementation of responsible consumption and production by transforming agro-industrial waste into a high-value bioplastic product. Therefore, this project not only creates new economic value but also actively reduces waste. (ITS PUBLIC RELATIONS)

Reporter: Syahidan Nur Habibie Ash-Shidieq