Tia Erfianti, a doctoral student in Biology at the Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), has won the prestigious Kurita Grant Japan 2024 after researching waste treatment, specifically focusing on Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) utilizing microalgae.
The Kurita Grant, or Kurita Water and Environment Foundation (KWEF) Grant, is a research grant dedicated to water management and environmental technology for Ph.D. students, lecturers, and academics.
This program, funded by Kurita Water Industries Ltd., aims to support research on water resource conservation in Asia.
This award provides financial support for Erfianti and her team’s research and opens up opportunities for collaboration with researchers in Japan.
In an online interview on Thursday (Oct. 3), Erfianti expressed her gratitude that her proposal was the only one representing UGM that KWEF accepted.
“I feel thrilled and grateful that KWEF has recognized my research,” she said.
According to Erfianti, receiving this award was not easy. For example, when preparing the proposal, she had to summarize all her research ideas into a single page, as the committee required.
After obtaining approval from her academic supervisors, she submitted the proposal to the official Kurita Water and Environment Foundation (KWEF) website, where it underwent a selection process lasting 3–4 months.
“Our proposal was eventually selected, and we received funding of around 400,000 yen, equivalent to IDR 43,000,000, for a one-year research period,” she revealed.
When asked about her research, Erfianti explained that it stemmed from the fact that despite various improvement efforts, water management in Indonesia still faces many challenges.
Several key issues contribute to suboptimal management, including high pollution levels, limited waste treatment infrastructure, and significant pressure on water resources due to industrial, agricultural, and urbanization activities.
“Through this event, I can contribute to water management efforts in Indonesia, specifically in remediating POME waste,” she said.
Erfianti’s research focuses on utilizing nitrogen-rich wastewater as a growth medium for microalgae. With POME production in Indonesia reaching 28.7 million tons annually, Erfianti sees great potential in managing and transforming this waste into a resource.
“Our research team at the Faculty of Biology has more than 35 leading strains of Indonesian microalgae capable of remediating waste, especially wastewater. This led to the idea of utilizing the liquid waste,” she explained.
Her promotor, Dr. Eko Agus Suyono from the Faculty of Biology, supervises her research, along with co-promotors Professor Budi Setiadi Daryono from the Faculty of Biology and Professor Arief Budiman from the Faculty of Engineering.
In this project, Erfianti is assisted by Brilian Ryan Sadewo from the Faculty of Engineering and Renata Adaranyssa Egistha Putri from the Graduate School.
They proposed a research topic highly relevant to current environmental challenges, titled “Microalgae-Based Nitrogen-Rich Wastewater Treatment Enhanced by Biorefinery Concept and Omics Technology for Sustainable Waste Management.”
Author: Lintang
Editor: Gusti Grehenson