UMI Students Create Prototype Hydrogen-Fuelled Car
Makassar (ANTARA) - Students from the Chemical Engineering Department of the Faculty of Industrial Technology (FTI) at Universitas Muslim Indonesia (UMI) have created a prototype car fuelled by a chemical reaction of water or hydrogen, which is environmentally friendly amid the threat of an energy crisis due to turmoil in the Middle East.
The hydrogen-fuelled car prototype was built by five UMI students who are part of the Petroline team, namely Mutiara Dwi Puspitasari, Dimas Rosikhul Fikri, Andi Tenri Awaru, Kabri from the Chemical Engineering Department, and Khaeril Ahyar from Mechanical Engineering.
“So this uses fuel from a chemical reaction, based on hydrogen,” said the head of the Petroline team from Chemical Engineering FTI UMI, Mutiara Dwi Puspitasari, in her statement in Makassar on Wednesday.
She explained that several components were assembled in building the fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly car prototype, starting from the wheels and car floor made of acrylic fibreglass, then the reactor tube made of stainless steel 304 coated with heat-resistant fibreglass fabric.
To power the prototype car, she said, a chemical liquid is dissolved in the reactor tube through a funnel that has been assembled in a specific manner. After a while, the dissolved chemical liquid reacts, and the pneumatic cylinder connected to the drive wheel rotates.
Mutiara Dwi said the team conducted research on chemical reactions that produce gas since January 2026.
After three trials of different chemical reactions, she continued, the team finally obtained an environmentally friendly solution formulation. After obtaining that environmentally friendly chemical liquid, the car prototype was then built and tested.
“We conducted this research for approximately from January to this month. The people involved consist of five students and one supervising lecturer,” she said.
The supervising lecturer from Chemical Engineering FTI UMI, Andi Rina Ayu Astuti, said the main advantage of using fuel from a hydrogen chemical reaction is that it is environmentally friendly. This is because the end result of the chemical reaction produced is only oxygen and water.
“One of the advantages is that the end product produced by this car prototype is oxygen. We also need that every day; we breathe it as humans,” said Andi Rina.