On 10 November 2021, their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands together with The Crown Prince Haakon met PoreLab members during the state visit from the Netherlands in Trondheim
During their state visit to Norway, their Majesties King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands together with The Crown Prince Haakon visited NTNU’s campus in Gløshaugen to learn about the NTNU and SINTEF efforts to promote the transition to green energy. They were accompanied by NTNU’s rector, Anne Borg. The topics of the visit were related to energy conversion, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen technology.
They met and discussed with PoreLab members when visiting the laboratories at SINTEF Energy research and the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from NTNU.
Former PoreLab PhD candidate, Ailo Aasen, now research scientist at SINTEF Energy Research and affiliated researcher at PoreLab, presented the possibility to transport hydrogen over long distances by liquefying it and then shipping it, and compared it to today’s industry of shipping liquefied natural gas (for more information, see PoreLab annual report 2020 page 49).
Elisa Magnanelli, research scientist at SINTEF Energy Research and former PhD candidate with Signe Kjelstrup, explained how the energy consumption can be minimized during the process of hydrogen production, using as inspiration the reindeer nose and new 3D printing technology (for more information, see PoreLab annual report 2019 pages 48 and 49).
Former PoreLab PhD candidate, Marco Sauermoser, now postdoctoral researcher at the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at NTNU, presented the experimental work he performed during his PhD at PoreLab, i.e. the use of nature-inspired chemical engineering to design new flow patterns for the flow field plate in PEM fuel cells. The design was inspired by the human lung, which provides uniform gas distribution inside the fuel cell. Marco explained that this design can help to increase the fuel cell’s performance and efficiency, and showed the very promising results obtained in this study (for more information, see PoreLab annual report 2019 pages 46, 47 and PoreLab annual report 2020 page 47).
Following the lab visits, the Royals attended a panel discussion on the North Sea as a platform for energy transition and energy conversion. They were joined by the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy, and the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs. The panel debate focused on hydrogen as well as other relevant technologies such as offshore wind and CO2 storage. Professor Signe Kjelstrup, PI at PoreLab, was a member of the panel and talked about energy conversion