A student team from Inkhil Official Secondary School in Daraa Governorate has advanced to the finals of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in the United Arab Emirates, with an innovative project titled "The Spring and Earth System." The project aims to utilize debris from destroyed buildings to produce asphalt mixtures, employ chemically treated coal for clean energy generation, and manufacture nanomembranes for water purification and desalination.
Project Pathways
The project is based on three interconnected pathways: earth, energy, and water, according to Ahmad al-Asi, a physics and chemistry teacher at the school. The earth pathway aims to reuse rubble from destroyed buildings to produce asphalt mixtures for road paving, while the energy pathway focuses on providing clean and safe energy from treated coal. The third pathway uses carbon materials to manufacture nanomembranes for filtering and purifying water, aiming to provide potable water and treat wastewater.
Teamwork Challenges
The project idea began individually before evolving into a collective effort, with students from Inkhil Official Secondary School forming an integrated Syrian team. The team managed to qualify for the finals of the competition for the Asia and North Africa region, competing against more than ten thousand teams from around the world. Team member Raneem al-Rumman emphasized that the spirit of cooperation was a key factor in overcoming difficulties, such as limited resources and transportation challenges, as they conducted their experiments using a simple laboratory and modest tools.
Evaluation and Future
Team member Saeed al-Wali clarified that the project underwent evaluation by an international committee, enabling the team to qualify for the prize finals scheduled in Abu Dhabi on January 12, 2027. The application period for the 2027 cycle began on January 26 and closed on June 22. The prize includes six main categories: health, food, energy, water, climate action, and global secondary schools, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises, non-profit organizations, and secondary schools.
Al-Asi noted that reaching the finals was the result of teamwork and continuous follow-up, expressing hope to continue working to achieve first place globally. The students also expressed their aspiration to demonstrate the innovative capacity of Syrian youth and provide practical solutions to environmental and service challenges, raising Syria's name in the field of innovation and sustainability.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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