The 2nd edition of the four-day Biobased Battle took place in March. 142 students from 7 different colleges in the Netherlands and Finland worked in multidisciplinary teams on corporate sustainability issues. The target? Presenting the best practical biobased solutions!
The Biobased Battle 2024 is organized by Avans/MNEXT, HAN, HZ, Karelia, LAB, OAMK and TAMK. The participating students worked in teams on one of the sustainability issues. This also applies to the team of Dirk-Jaap Willemsen, a student at HAN: “Our team worked together on the challenge about reducing hospital waste. What surprised me most was the difference in views our teammates had on this topic. Some of us work in healthcare and we discovered some differences in working methods in Finland and the Netherlands. It turned out that Dutch hospitals often have a laundry department, while in Finland it is common to engage an external company.”
Winning ideas
After four days of battling, the teams came up with great ideas for the challenges. A professional jury, consisting of lecturers, entrepreneurs and teachers from the various colleges, assessed the different ideas. Students from the winning teams talk about the concept with which they won.
Challenge 1: Biochar
Winners: Yoran Deering, Lassi Forma, Elina Karppinen, Marek Rokicki and Robert Verkerk
Lassi Forma, student at TAMK in Finland: “Our idea is to cover manure lagoons on farms with biochar. Biochar captures nutrients and greenhouse gases from the manure and can then be used as fertilizer. Biochar remains in the soil, where it has been used as fertilizer, improving its quality for a long time. There are so many positive aspects to this solution! You take carbon from the atmosphere and bring it to the soil, making the soil healthier while combating carbon levels in the atmosphere. You reduce the run-off of nutrients, reduce eutrophication and make the use of nutrients more circular. The smell of manure and greenhouse gas emissions are also reduced. We chose this because it is a comprehensive solution to many problems.”
Challenge 2: Reduction of hospital waste
Winners: Svetlin Kalchev, Outi Valkonen, Javinah Werne, Dirk-Jaap Willemsen and Heidi Yliharju
Svetlin Kalchev, student at Avans: “The MCA analysis concluded that preventing the incorrect use of gloves is the most appropriate solution. The logical consequence is that by reducing the use of gloves in hospitals, fewer gloves are thrown away and fewer emissions are created from the production of new gloves or the treatment of glove waste.” He is proud of the way his team won the challenge. “The proudest (and confusing) moment was when I discovered that our idea won, despite being the simplest. It made me proud because not overcomplicating things, as I usually do, paid off.
Challenge 3: Connecting Fibers
Winners: Md Iram Sami Bhuiyan, Elina Halone, Jenni Jäminki and Ngan Le
Md Iram Sami, student at TAMK: “The topic was about the use of adhesives in EV batteries. This topic is broad and open to speculation, so I wanted to work on something unique. At first we thought about the furniture and wood industry, but later we decided to investigate something completely different. We brainstormed about the current global challenges and the development of EV cars came to mind. From there we discovered that batteries use glue and the rest is history.”
Source: MNEXT
