From seawater to sugar cane: how Eni rewards the future of energy

TheEnergy Transition Award, one of the three main prizes, which recognises the best innovations for decarbonising the current energy system, was awarded toJeff Dahn of Dalhousie University (Canada) for his innovative studies in energy storage, which led to the development of lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries designed with the aim of achieving a service life of more than 50 years, using sustainable, energy-dense materials.

The Energy Frontiers prize, for research into renewable energy sources and energy storage, was awarded to Lydéric Bocquet of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (France) for his outstanding contributions to the development of a revolutionary technology to make the harvesting of osmotic energy, which is derived from the difference in salinity between seawater and fresh water and is a completely renewable, greenhouse gas-free, non-intermittent and globally available energy source.

The Advanced Environmental Solutions prize, dedicated to research into the preservation and sustainable use of natural resources, was awarded to Philippe Ciais of the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (France) for his fundamental contributions to the quantification, understanding and prediction of carbon uptake by terrestrial ecosystems on a global, regional and local scale, with profound implications for the definition of climate change mitigation strategies.

The Young Researcher of the Year prize, aimed at researchers who have obtained their PhD in Italian universities, was awarded to Maria Basso (University of Padua) for her study of key materials to tackle global challenges related to energy consumption and water scarcity with a low environmental impact approach, and to Virginia Venezia (University of Naples Federico II) for her contribution to developing innovative strategies for the valorisation of waste biomass into multifunctional materials that can be used in food packaging, environmental protection and the recovery of noble metals from electronic waste.

La sezione Giovani Talenti dall’Africa, istituita nel 2017 in occasione del decennale di Eni Award e dedicata ai giovani talenti dal Continente Africano, conferisce, in questa edizione, due premi, assegnati a Asengo Gerardin Mabia dell’Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Costa d’Avorio) e a Shimaa Farag dell’American University in Cairo (Egitto). I dottorandi vincitori ricevono un premio per potenziare e arricchire la loro attività di ricerca durante il corso di dottorato che stanno frequentando presso le università di appartenenza. La ricerca di Mabia punta sulla valorizzazione dei rifiuti agricoli e agroindustriali in Costa d’Avorio, come detto la melassa di canna da zucchero e le bucce di baccello di cacao, per produrre bioplastica di largo utilizzo. La ricerca di Farag Shimaa mira, invece, a fornire una soluzione innovativa, ecologica ed economica per il trattamento delle acque reflue in Egitto, in particolar modo per la rimozione di metalli pesanti e

Per la sezione Eni for Innovation, che elegge i progetti più innovativi sviluppati da ricercatori ed esperti tecnici Eni, sono stati premiati: Michele Gerolin, Tiberio Grasso, Luigi Miozza, Alberto Moro (EniProgetti); Simone Ambrosini, Andrea Vignali (Eni) per l’idea brevettuale relativa ad un sistema robotico, basato sul processamento in tempo reale dell’imaging acustico mediante algoritmi di visione intelligente, per la rilevazione, localizzazione e caratterizzazione autonoma di anomalie sottomarine; Antonio Amico, Andrea Amoroso, Corrado Fittavolini, Francesca Guarnieri, Alberto Landoni, Nicoletta Panariti, Francesco Ricci (Eni) per la soluzione tecnologica innovativa di un processo integrato per la produzione di biobenzina, con una riduzione stimata delle emissioni di CO2 lungo l’intero ciclo di vita tra il 60% e l’80% rispetto alla benzina tradizionale da fonte fossile; Alfonso Amendola, G

Also this year, then, Eni, through Joule, its School for Entrepreneurship, awarded the Special Mention Eni Joule for Entrepreneurship, intended for teams, university spin-offs, and start-ups. The awards went to three start-ups that particularly distinguished themselves: Exe Engineering for Environment, Koalisation Società Benefit and Eoliann Società Benefit.