Veolia Performance Trophies 2018: six winning students

The 2018 Veolia Performance Trophies presentation ceremony took place this morning in the presence of Antoine Frérot. The 6 winners will go to Boston to meet local teams and discover the facilities operated by the Group. For this 20th edition, among the 230 candidates that entered (double last year), 54 were selected from 40 schools - 23 in France and 17 worldwide.

The projects eligible for the competition are run by one or more Master 2 (5 years’ higher education) students in their final year. The work presented to the jury is evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: the possibility of deploying the proposed solutions; the innovative nature; the quality of the presentation to the jury; the documents submitted; the knowledge and reasoning applied; the link between the subject and Veolia’s activities. The projects fall into 3 categories: "Performance", "Industries" and "Cities".
 

The 6 winning projects in 2018:


Funda Kisacik - Student in statistics and data science at the Institut de Statistique de l’Université de Paris (ISUP), Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) in Paris, France
- Performance / Internal category (work-study contract with Veolia's Research and Innovation Department in Maisons-Laffitte).
Subject: Development of a data automation platform to limit the laboratory tests needed to adjust a model. This study provides faster methods for collecting new information and improving model accuracy.

 


Yaxian Chen - Master 2 in data science and smart systems at AgroParisTech and the Université Paris-Dauphine, France
- Performance / jury prize category.
Subject: Calibration of a simulation model to predict calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium concentrations in soils. The Smart Agri project offers a tool (SoilAdvisor) for the optimal use of biological products and composts that improve soil condition and reduce costs, with 44 scenarios for 6 types of crops.

 


Antoine Grenet - Master at École Nationale Supérieure de Céramique Industrielle (ENSCI) in Paris, France
- Industries / Internal category (colleague in the Veolia Research and Innovation department in Limay).
Subject: Alternative biomass ash recovery solution: the "ash transformed into materials" project explores profitable development in insulation products, filtration, or geo-cement in accordance with French regulatory requirements.

 

 


Arnaud Jéglot Master in Environmental Engineering at Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the Ecole Centrale de Lille
- Industries / External category.
Subject: Optimization of biogas production through bioaugmentation. Biogas production substrates create ammonia concentrations that partially inhibit anaerobic digestion processes. Ammonia tolerant methanogenic cultures make it possible to optimize biogas production. This bioaugmentation could be implemented in large-scale biogas reactors.

 

Mouhamadou Seck - Master 2 in advanced systems and robotics at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) in Paris, France
- Cities / internal category (colleague in the Veolia Research and Innovation department in Maisons-Laffitte).
Subject: Increasing the autonomy of a pipeline inspection robot: the use of machine learning in image processing and fault detection make this robot autonomous. Televised sewage pipe inspection improves productivity and service quality and reduces maintenance costs.

 


Tarik Alboustani - Master of Science (MSc) Architectural and Urbanism at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Netherlands
- Cities / External category.
Subject: Mobile plant unit for urban agriculture: design of a mobile production unit with a hybrid lighting system. The proposed facilities form "airtight" production units for intensive hydroponic crops. To provide the plant with the light needed for photosynthesis, the unit uses a hybrid energy-saving lighting system that combines natural and artificial light. This project combines architectural, agricultural and environmental studies.

 

More:

Veolia’s Performance Trophies competition
Veolia’s relations with universities and Our HR promise