Young engineers experience Papua New Guinea

Two UQ Mechanical Engineering students have swapped the lecture theatre for a palm oil mill in Papua New Guinea this semester.

Fourth-year students David Shaw and Adam Brown are working at New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPOL) as part of the Professional Engineering Placement Scholarship (PEPS) program.

Offered through the School of Engineering, the initiative allows students to put their engineering skills into practice while gaining credit towards their degree.

Mr Shaw said participating in PEPS had enabled him to see a different part of the world and gain valuable experience at the same time.

“Things are so different to Australia, so we had to adapt to a totally different way of working,” he said.

The young engineers are both working on research projects during their time in PNG which will benefit NBPOL’s operations.

Mr Shaw’s work involves optimising the operation of a screw press that extracts oil from the palm fruit, while Mr Brown is hoping to improve efficiency and lower production costs by harnessing energy currently being wasted through steam emissions.

NBPOL Senior Manager Mr Peter Morgan said it was great to have the students asking questions and challenging the way the company did things.

Mr Morgan is himself a UQ engineering graduate, and has lived on New Britain with his family for the past 11 years.

“This is our first collaboration with UQ, and we hope that it will be the start of many,” Mr Morgan said.

NBPOL is Papua New Guinea's largest oil palm plantation and milling operator. Their core activity is the cultivation and processing of palm and kernel oils for sales to both domestic and foreign markets.

Individuals and businesses who wish to find out more about PEPS should contact Associate Professor Tony Howes on (07) 3365 4262 or tonyh@cheque.uq.edu.au.

Media: Associate Professor Tony Howes on (07) 3365 4262 or tonyh@cheque.uq.edu.au, or Ms Susan Doel (07) 3346 7925 or s.doel@uq.edu.au

For high resolution images to accompany this release, contact Diana Lilley (d.lilley@uq.edu.au)