Professors Olav Bolland and Hallvard Svendsen have won Statoil’s 2011 research prize for their work on enhancing carbon capture understanding and processes for reducing emissions.
The prize of NOK 200,000 and an artwork by Roar Wold was awarded by Tor Ulleberg, vice president Oil and gas value chain in Statoil Research & Development during the Technoport awards in Trondheim on 10 May.
“Through their efforts over many years, Bolland and Svendsen have helped to boost knowledge surrounding energy and carbon emission issues,” observes Ulleberg. “These are global challenges which will become even more important in the years to come.”
Svendsen, who is attached to the chemical engineering department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), notes that his contribution is part of a group effort:
”I’d first like to say that I’m very pleased and proud of this award. I consider it an acknowledgement of the work which the carbon absorption team has carried out over many years. This is teamwork rather than any person’s individual achievement.”
Statoil’s research prize seeks to recognise scientific results at a high international level. It aims to provide an inspiration for others and to support continued research in disciplines regarded by the group as important for its business.
“This represents a major recognition of many years of commitment to carbon capture and storage [CCS],” says Bolland, who heads NTNU’s department of energy and process engineering. “That dates back to 1989 for my part. Statoil has been one of the most important players globally in CCS, and it’s a great honour for me to receive this prize from the company for my work.”
Ulleberg emphasises that research will play a key role in overcoming future global energy challenges.
“The demand for energy is growing as more people move out of poverty. Oil and production is also getting more technologically challenging, at the same time as we have to tackle the global climate challenges.
“The efforts made by Bolland and Svendsen to reduce air emissions and capture carbon dioxide go right to the heart of overcoming the energy challenges.
“This is a discipline which has occupied a key place for us ever since we started storing carbon dioxide beneath Sleipner East in 1996.”
Source: http://www.statoil.com