2022
February 4, 2022
Kurita Sponsors and Presents the "Kurita Water Industries Award" at the 19th Japan Science & Engineering Challenge (JSEC 2021)
Kurita Water Industries ("Kurita"; Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Michiya Kadota) today announced that it had sponsored the 19th Japan Science & Engineering Challenge ("JSEC2021"), a free-study research contest in science and engineering hosted by The Asahi Shimbun Company and TV Asahi Corporation; and had presented the "Kurita Water Industries Award" for excellent research into water and the environment.
The Japan Science & Engineering Challenge ("JSEC") is a free-study research contest in science and engineering for high school and college students, held annually since 2003 with the aim of improving the level of science and engineering by contributing to the promotion of education in the fields of science and engineering. The contest calls for entries consisting of research work from a wide range of fields, with awards being given for the best entries based on document and presentation-based screenings by expert judges. Kurita supports and endorses the purport of JSEC activities, and has sponsored the contest since 2019 as one aspect of human resources development as part of its corporate citizenship activities.
For JSEC2021, the 19th installment of the competition, a total of 220 entries were received from high schools and technical colleges throughout Japan. After preliminary and primary screening processes, the final screening was held online over the course of two days (December 11 and December 12).
The entrant selected as the winner of the Kurita Water Industries Award for JSEC2021 was Ms. Akane Iwasa of the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Gunma College for her research project "Energy creation by low-voltage electrolysis of water using the pH difference of aqueous solution". The winner of this award and other top-ranking winners from JSEC2021 are scheduled to represent Japan at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), to be held in May 2022. In addition, like last year, a virtual 3D JSEC venue was created online. Kurita used this platform to display content, including educational content entitled "Kurita Sustainable Water Tour," which introduces global problems relating to water resources and the role of water treatment technologies in resolving them.
Moving forward, as a secondary prize to the main award, Kurita plans to hold an online exchange meeting between the award winners and Kurita Group researchers including researchers from overseas. By providing opportunities to hear directly from researchers about R&D activities at companies, Kurita hopes to lend a helping hand in future research activities and career planning for award winners.
Looking ahead, as one aspect of its corporate citizenship activities, the Kurita Group will continue to contribute to achieving the creation of a sustainable society by supporting the education of young people who will play key roles in the future.
Kurita Water Industries Award
| Winner | : | Ms. Akane Iwasa of National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Gunma College |
|---|---|---|
| Title | : | "Energy creation by low-voltage electrolysis of water using the pH difference of aqueous solution" |
| Outline | : | With the objective of eliminating energy loss in the electrolysis of water, the award winner used the fact that electrode potential depends on the pH of the electrolyte. Ms. Iwasa found in her project that hydrogen can be produced at 1.23V, which is the theoretical voltage of water electrolysis under the condition where an alkaline solution and an acidic solution are used as electrolytes for the anode and cathode, respectively. |
Kurita Water Industries Award winner Ms. Akane Iwasa of National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Gunma College
Link to the JSEC2021 virtual 3D venue (viewable until May 2022)
JSEC2021 (asahi.com)
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