A Q&A with Levidian's summer intern Reina Zheng

We were delighted to be joined by Reina Zheng this year who undertook an internship focusing on Levidian’s carbon footprint analysis, as well as working with our R&D team.

We spoke to Reina about her time at Levidian, the projects she’s been working on, and what’s next for her as she heads back to university.

You’re currently studying Chemical Engineering at university, what made you decide it was the course for you?

It is a very versatile and hands-on degree. Products made with chemical engineering surround us, things like most large-scale manufactured food items, pharmaceuticals, energy, and much more. The flexibility of the degree means I have a wider range of paths to explore in the future. I think it’s a field that’s becoming increasingly important, especially with the paradigm shift in energy sectors towards green energy. This overhaul means that chemical engineers are more needed than ever as we strive towards UK’s 2050 net zero goal.

When you were looking for a summer internship, what were the main factors that influenced your decision?

I wanted to find a company that was innovative and could make a real difference in decelerating the damage we’re doing to our climate. Levidian is doing just that. As a company creating cutting edge climate technology, it has given me the opportunity to both learn some hard science while contributing to creating a more sustainable future.

Could you share more about the interesting projects you’ve been involved in during your time here?

My main work was centred around conducting a carbon analysis of the company in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG protocol), encompassing scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. This involved data collection and sorting through both surveys and pre-existing data sheets, as well as graph generation and uncertainty calculations.

To streamline the process, I have created scripts that automatically sort through the very large (5000+ rows) data sets to extract scope 3 category relevant data and generate interactive graphs for easy viewing. For scope 1 and 2, I made an easy-to-use report generation program which takes in the conversion factors, gas data, and electricity data, for any given reporting period. Hopefully this will make undertaking carbon analysis faster into the future!

I also had the opportunity to work on the R&D side of Levidian. I did some 3D modelling for a potential reactor chamber, researched information associated with upscaling, as well as some more hands-on work by collecting graphene samples from the R&D chamber.

What do you think you’ve gained the most from your internship experience with us?

These 8-weeks have been an excellent learning opportunity for me. The internship gave me a chance to learn new skills like carbon analysis and reporting protocols, mass spectrometer software, as well as develop and apply skills I’ve learnt in university, such as 3D modelling and Python. It has also greatly expanded my knowledge in plasma physics by learning from leading experts in the field like Adam (Levidian’s Head of R&D).

I’m really glad I got to intern during Levidian’s growth phase. It was incredibly valuable seeing the challenges associated with scale up, particularly with how to approach optimisation when there are many variables to account for, and how the remarkable team in R&D find solutions to these challenges. Getting the chance to see the computational models and how they're validated was also eye-opening.

What exciting plans do you have for your future at university and beyond?

I’m excited to start my third year at the University of Cambridge, where I’ll be able to learn more about sustainability and the energy sector! Levidian has helped me realise how important climate technology is and how we all need to start taking better care of our planet.