During June 3-4, 2017, the “First China College Student Chem-E-Car Competition” was held at Tianjin University. It was organized by the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, the Teaching Guidance Committee of Chemistry and Engineering in Institutions of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, and undertaken by the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University. Teams from 20 universities participated in the competition. A total of over 270 competition committee members and experts from the AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers), the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, enterprises and national universities, attended the event.

The opening ceremony was followed by the intense competition with experts scoring the work of each team. A total of 6 universities won three categories of prizes in the poster session: Tianjin University and Nanjing Tech University won the Most Creative Power System Prize, East China University of Science and Technology and China University of Petroleum the Most Creative Automotive Design Prize, and Tsinghua University and South China University of Technology won the Best Prize in Application of Safety Principles of Chemical Process. In the afternoon, after two rounds of intense competition, the representative team of Northwest University was ranked first in the performance competition with an accurate distance of 0.05m, followed by Dalian University of Technology and Beijing University of Chemical Technology.

After the competition and, during the closing and awards ceremony in the gym of Tianjin University, Ma Xinbin, Dean of the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology made a concluding statement. He said, the Chem-E-Car Competition would be a platform to enhance ability for future applications. The School of Chemical Engineering and Technology was willing to cooperate with other universities to make the competition better and to look forward to holding the Global Finals in China.

The participating experts and representatives were honored to have the opportunity to take part in the competition. The competition was a good exercise of the students’ practical ability. Combining the theory of the chemical industry with practice is of great significance in enhancing students' innovation ability, entrepreneurship, teamwork spirit and cross-subject learning.

The high-level preparation and coordination of the Tianjin University School of Chemical Engineering and Technology and volunteers of the AIChE Tianjin University Branch were highly praised by the representatives of AIChE. Therefore, Liao Wenjie, a grade 2013 undergraduate of the School and the President of the Branch, was invited to share the experience of the Chem-E-Car competition at the Global AIChE Student Annual Conference.

Chem-E-Car Competition is an international competition sponsored and launched by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. It requires participating teams to design a car to provide power and to precisely control it using chemical reactions.