Chemkaton is organised by the AGH University of Kraków: Faculty of Energy and Fuels and Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics. First- and second-cycle students may participate if they want to test their knowledge and skills in the field of chemistry.

In the first eliminations, teams made up of 3-4 persons solve a task prepared by the organisers. To the second stage – Great Final at AGH – qualify the best teams that compete against each other face to face in a 24h challenge. In this edition, after challenging eliminations, only eight best teams from Poland and abroad were qualified; two of them from the WUT Faculty of Chemistry: PoliCarbonates (PoliWęglany) and Orbitals.  

The competition was like a hackathon. The teams had 24 hours to prepare for two tasks, using sets of materials and tools provided by the organisers (each team got the same set). One task was to make a galvanic cell based on fruit and vegetables. The jury evaluated how close the voltage generated by the cell was to the set value of 5V and the ability to predict the change of the cell’s voltage within two hours from the first measurement. The second task was to obtain a fuel in the form of bioethanol, also using fruits, through fermentation. The jury evaluated the final concentration of the obtained ethanol and the pH value which was supposed to be as close as possible to the set value of 4. The team PoliCarbonates (PoliWęglany) got the biggest number of points for the final ethanol concentration (40%).

Award ceremony – PoliWęglany (PoliCarbonates)

Awards and diplomas for the competition were given on 1 October 2024.