Eni Award 2024 scientific research prizes awarded
Rome - The Eni Award ceremony took place at the Quirinale Palace, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eni Giuseppe Zafarana and the CEO of Eni Claudio Descalzi. Now in its 16th edition, the prize is considered an international point of reference for research in the fields of energy and the environment and demonstrates the importance that scientific research and technological innovation have for Eni and its commitment to promoting sustainability and access to energy, in accordance with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Since its establishment in 2008, there have been more than eleven thousand nominations. The Scientific Commission, which evaluated the research submitted, is made up of scientists who belong to the most advanced research institutes in the world and over the years has seen the participation of 6 Nobel Prize winners. This year too, Eni, through Joule, its School for Business, has awarded the Eni Joule for Entrepreneurship Special Mention, intended for groups, university innovations, innovative companies and aimed at promoting the application, valorization and transfer of technologies while promoting the creation of a sustainable innovation ecosystem.
In the 2024 edition of the Eni Award, the winners were:
For the Energy Transition section, aimed at research in the field of energy efficiency as well as the capture, use and sequestration of carbon dioxide, the prize was awarded to Marc Fontecave of the College de France (France). Marc Fontecave's research is aimed at developing technologies for the valorization of CO2 as an alternative source of carbon for the production of compounds of high industrial interest. To this end, inspired by biological systems, he has developed innovative catalytic systems, characterized by high efficiency and selectivity, used in electrocatalytic reduction processes of CO2 powered by renewable electricity;
In the Energy Frontiers section, for research on renewable sources and energy storage, the prize was awarded to Nam-Gyu Park of Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea) for his research on solid-state perovskite solar cells. With his work, Prof. Park has contributed to the research and development of a class of new materials for photovoltaic devices that in a short period of time have demonstrated progress in terms of efficiency and stability never seen before for any other solar technology, even surpassing those of silicon, and on the way to becoming protagonists of the energy market.
In the Advanced Environmental Solutions section, dedicated to promoting scientific and technological innovation for the protection and sustainable use of natural resources, the prize was awarded to Holger Braunschweig of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (Germany) for his research on Reduction of waste and toxic elements through direct functionalization of nitrogen with light elements without transition metals. Prof. Braunschweig has shown that some light elements, such as boron, can facilitate reactions that until now have only occurred through the use of toxic heavy metals. In particular, his research has achieved significant results in converting molecular nitrogen into ammonia. This discovery allows to avoid expensive purification steps that produce waste and save considerable amounts of energy, also preventing environmental and health problems associated with many toxic metals.
For the Young Researcher of the Year category, which rewards two researchers who have obtained a PhD in Italian universities, the awards were given to Elvira Spatolisano and Stefano Toso. Elvira Spatolisano, who earned her PhD at the Politecnico di Milano, conducted a study for the valorization of hydrogen sulfide, a compound often present in natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel and crucial in the energy transition towards renewables. Such valorization processes increase environmental sustainability, converting toxic waste into high value-added products, such as fertilizers or hydrogen. Stefano Toso, who conducted his PhD at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Technology, studied metal halides, a new class of semiconductors with excellent photovoltaic properties and useful for the realization of efficient opto-electronic devices. The nanomaterials he developed may find application in the field of photovoltaics, photocatalysis and optoelectronics, as well as in emerging sectors such as quantum computing.
The Young Talents from Africa section, established in 2017 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Eni Award and dedicated to young talents from the African continent, awards, in this edition, four prizes, assigned to Favour Agbajor, of the Durban University of Technology (South Africa), to Petra Kienyiy Chui, of Egerton University (Kenya), to Lakhdar Hamidatou, of the Ecole Nationale Polytechnique de Constantine (Algeria), and to Nomthandazo Precious Sibiya, of the Durban University of Technology (South Africa). The winners will receive a scholarship that will allow them to attend a doctoral course at prestigious Italian universities to deepen and develop their innovative ideas developed during their master's thesis. Favour Agbajor has developed innovative models that integrate the design and operation of buildings with renewable energy systems, with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality. Petra Kienyiy Chui assessed the levels and determined the characteristics of microplastics and water quality in the Njoro River and Lake Nakuru in Kenya. Lakhdar Hamidatou developed and experimentally validated a removable cooling kit for commercial photovoltaic panels, which uses bio-based phase change materials (PCMs).
Finally, Nomthandazo Precious Sibiya developed a magnetic coagulation separation technique that can be used for wastewater treatment.
For the Eni Innovation Recognition section, which elects the most innovative projects developed by Eni researchers and technical experts, the following were awarded:
Cristina Bonanomi, Rino Bonetti, Silvia Pavoni (Eni), Davide Moscatelli, Edoardo Terreni (PoliMI) for the patent idea relating to a process for producing bio-oil from lignin; Riccardo Borgomaneri, Luigi Colombo, Francesca Galimberti, Samuele Gori, Alberto Landoni, Nicoletta Panariti, Rita Ponzo (Eni) for the innovative technological solution “Bio-Slurry”, a single-stage process to convert highly contaminated bio-feedstock into valuable products; Mirko Barbavara, Gabriele Bianchi, Stefano Cardamone, Lino Carnelli, Davide Deriu, Carla Lazzari, Nicola Mancini, Tamara Passera, Giuseppe Sabetta, (Eni) for the technological solution of the Eni TES (Thermal Energy Storage) thermal energy storage system. The Special Mention “Eni Joule for Entrepreneurship” was also awarded to three startups that particularly stood out for the innovation and sustainability of the entrepreneurial projects proposed: HBI - Human Based Innovation, a startup from Bolzano, which has developed and patented a technology for the circular treatment of sewage sludge;
SLY, a startup from Santa Caterina dello Ionio (Catanzaro), which has developed cutting-edge AI technologies for the ultra-early identification and classification of forest fires; RarEarth, a startup from Milan, which has developed an innovative chemical process for recycling rare earths from electric motors of two-wheeled vehicles.
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