The ARSST bomb calorimeter provides precise data on temperature, pressure and reaction rates so students can assess runaway reaction risks and industrial safety considerations. In this project, the team integrated the ARSST into a two-week lab series that teaches students to analyze reaction kinetics, thermal hazards and pressure vent scaling.

The team selected two key reactions for experimental study: the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide and the production of ferric sulfate through hydrogen peroxide oxidation. The hydrogen peroxide experiment focuses on understanding how heating rate and pressure influence reaction rate and conversion. This provides students with insight into runaway reaction prevention.

The second experiment explores ferric sulfate production by optimizing catalyst ratios and reaction conditions to improve efficiency and minimize peroxide decomposition. Students will be responsible for making effective alterations to the experimental parameters while remaining compliant with safe lab practices. Safety will be a chief requirement because of the high temperature and pressure environments found in the ARSST. Through these labs, students will learn to apply theoretical concepts to real-world safety and process optimization challenges.

Conventional fish feed often contributes to overfishing, environmental degradation and significant challenges for small-scale farmers in developing countries, particularly in countries like South Africa. To meet the increasing global demand for fish while ensuring environmental sustainability and addressing the economic challenges posed by conventional fish feed, the team experimentally compared three innovative insect-based fish feed alternatives.

This project focused on two specific insect sources: mealworms and black soldier flies. The team developed a careful process for cultivating, blending and producing these insects into pelletized fish feed designed for tilapia farming. This method enhances the nutritional value of the feed and reduces its environmental impact, as these insects require minimal land, water and cost.

By prioritizing the needs of small-scale farmers, the team aimed to offer an alternative to traditional feed that enhances economic viability and boosts food security. Moreover, this insect-based feed’s production scalability means it can extend beyond South Africa where it can contribute to more sustainable practices in global aquaculture. The team’s findings provide valuable insights that could significantly reshape fish farming practices and balance productivity with ecological responsibility, even on an industrial scale.

Heavy metal contamination, from both natural and anthropogenic sources, affects millions of people worldwide. This problem is particularly difficult for Native American communities impacted by abandoned mines. As current heavy metal removal methods can be costly and generate secondary waste, cost-effective, environmentally friendly bioremediation alternatives are needed.

The team’s solution is a passive treatment system that uses fungal-based bioremediation (mycoremediation) to remove heavy metals with minimal energy inputs. To develop this system, the team first performed batch experiments to assess the biosorption capacity (milligrams of metal removed per gram biomass) and adsorption rates of the Fusarium fungus in a mixed heavy metal solution designed to emulate acid mine drainage. The team’s treatment system is based on the findings from these experiments.

MIW first flows through a limestone pond to precipitate aluminum and iron. Next, the water enters a passive packed-bed reactor containing inactivated fungal media. Here the heavy metals adsorb onto the surface of the media during chemical, physical and electrostatic interactions. The system operates at a target flow rate of 10 gallons per minute, relies on gravity-driven flow, and aims to reduce heavy metal concentrations to meet EPA discharge standards.

The team, MAGJCK Metals, prepared a scoping study regarding the design and feasibility of an open-pit lithium mine located in the Pilbara region of Australia, as prescribed in the 2024 SME Metallic Design Competition Problem Statement. This report comprised Phase 1 of the project and was completed within the three-week window in October 2024.

During Phase 2, the team modified the project to account for the decline in lithium carbonate equivalent prices and projections of continued downward trends in 2025 and beyond due to oversupply and subdued growth in the electric vehicle sector. The team revised the mine plan, made major revisions to the process plant, and updated the environmental and permitting sections of the technical report they submitted to the project’s board of directors. The team represented U of A at the SME MINEXCHANGE Conference held in Denver in February 2025. Team members delivered a thorough presentation of both phases of the project – highlighting the changes to Phase 1 based on updated information and requirements gathered during Phase 2 – and earned second place in the international competition.

Panel caving is an underground mining method that relies on continuous rock breakage using gravity. It provides an efficient and controlled method of excavating ore into a catchment, called a drawbell. These drawbells eliminate the need for continuous drill and blast operations in a single panel and allow for loading and hauling of ore. Optimizing the design and technology features ensures productive drawbells throughout the mine and reduces operational and construction costs.

Resolution Copper asked the team to construct a drill and blast drawbell design for a panel caving operation located 5,000 to 7,000 ft underground. The primary objective was to design both a typical drawbell and a drawbell with newer blasting technologies and free face reduction or elimination.

The team prioritized safety while optimizing the number of drillholes, charging cycles, operational efficiency, cost and sustainability to maximize productivity per unit cost. To do this, the team collaborated weekly with the project sponsor and periodically with external resources, used empirical methods for design validation, and synthesized a risk assessment matrix. The team completed a tradeoff analysis and created an iterative and adaptable quality assurance and quality control program. The program contains a list of systematic procedures for meeting and verifying product quality and a corrective decision-making process to identify, fix and prevent errors.

Industry consortium the Next-Generation Design Alliance conducted a prefeasibility study for a copper leach-only operation in central Arizona. These operations rely on detailed plans and carefully designed drainage pads for leaching out copper from the ore to maximize production and minimize waste. Using provided project parameters and block models, the team developed a mine plan and leach pad design that leverages advanced mine planning software for pit optimization. This project challenged team members to use their mineral processing expertise and apply industry-relevant methodologies for optimizing operational efficiency to create the leach pad design.

The team began by evaluating the economics of a leach pad expansion. The design included location selection for the leach pad and collection pond, liner design, and the sequence and stacking for the pad. The team also conducted a stability assessment and incorporated environmental and permitting considerations. In addition, the project includes a process flow sheet, tons, mass balance, time rate and recovery estimates for metal recovery. Finally, the team conducted a trade-off study for trace
mineral recovery including gold, silver and molybdenum.