The students in Petrochemicals and Polymers Engineering Programs got a field trip including learning activities outside the classroom. The team was led by faculty members as well as academic stuff and departed the campus for Samut Prakan Province and Bangkok on May, 7-10 in order to gain the experience in visiting factories and organizations, three places totally, related to the production process as well as testing properties of petrochemical products and polymers.
The first one was TOA Paint (Thailand) Public Company Limited, where the students were given a short lecture, but packed with knowledge, about the relations of polymers and paints, different types of paints, paint production process and observed the production lines in the factory. Afterwards, the team traveled to experience the atmosphere of the petrochemical and polymer industry at the Bangchak Refinery Factory, operating a modern complex refinery process, from the crude oil refining process (Fractionation), quality improvement (Treating), adding value (Conversion), as well as the production of various types of petrochemical products (Blending). Then, at the end of the trip, visiting the Plastics Institute of Thailand where they received the exciting information on the direction of the Thai and the global plastic industry, the direction of the bioplastic industry, the various plastic forming processes and many more on the modern plastic products from the industry. The experience at this place ended up with a visit at the polymer testing laboratory.
Visiting to all of the mentioned organizations, the team got a warm welcome as well as gaining the knowledge about new related technologies. Moreover, the students had the opportunity to experience the real working atmosphere in various related industries. This encouraged students to integrate knowledge gained in class with real-life practices while working in industry and laboratories. And, the last but not least, this visit also strengthened the relationship between School of Engineering and Technology and industry organizations.