Press kit
Contacts:
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Press kit
Index
1. Save the date
page 2
2. Press Release
page 3
3. Winners’ biography
a. Tapan Mukerji
page 5
b. Amir H. Hoveyda
page 9
c. Jay D. Keasling
page 12
d. Clément Sanchez
page 16
e. Nicola Bortolamei
page 20
f. Martina Siena
page 24
4. Eni Award – history
page 27
5. Eni and research
page 28
6. More simply
page 31
1
2
ENI AWARD 2014
Rome, 17 June 2014 – The award ceremony for the Eni Award 2014 edition was
held today at the Quirinale and attended by the President of the Italian Republic,
Giorgio Napolitano, the Chairman of Eni, Emma Marcegaglia and the CEO of Eni,
Claudio Descalzi. Over the years the award, first introduced in 2007 for research in
the fields of energy and environmental technology, has become internationally
recognized . The Eni Award is aimed at promoting more efficient and sustainable
energy sources, as well as inspiring new generations of researchers. The award is a
demonstration of the importance that Eni
gives to scientific research and
sustainability.
The Scientific Award Committee has 23 members this year, including Nobel Prize
Sir Harold Kroto as well as university deans, researchers and scientists from the
most prestigious universities and research centres in the world and is chaired by
French academic Gérard Férey. At the same time, the Eni Innovation Recognition
prize was assigned to three internal research teams for
achieving particularly
relevant results in innovation for the company’s business .
Over the years, thousands of researchers from around the world have submitted
their work to the Eni Award and even more have the highly qualified personalities
been involved in the Scientific Committee, which includes 25 Nobel Prizes. For the
edition 2014, applications were over 1400.
The prize "New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons" (Upstream) has been awarded to Tapan
Mukerji, Gary Mavko and Jack Dvorkin, Stanford University, and to Dario Grana,
University of Wyoming, for designing and developing an innovative method to get
quantitative information from the subsurface from seismic data. Seismic surveying
techniques already play a fundamental role in the research and production of oil and
gas, as they enable scientists to "see" the subsurface. The team, led by Professor
3
Mukerji, has identified correlations between the physical properties of rocks and
fluids and experimental data, also developing an innovative interpretative model for
quantifying meaningful parameters.
The prize "New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons" (Downstream) goes to Amir H.
Hoveyda, Boston College (Massachusetts-USA), for planning and developing
catalysts for synthesising complex molecules with specific steric properties, i.e. with
a particular spatial arrangement of their main-chain atoms. In particular, Prof.
Hoveyda has identified new and particularly efficient synthesis methods that use
innovative, low cost catalysts to produce high purity compounds used in
pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and agrochemicals. Prof. Hoveyda's research
focuses therefore on important chemical transformations and also extends to the
field of advanced materials and polymers.
The "Renewable Energy" prize is awarded to Jay D. Keasling, University of
California, Berkeley, (USA), for his research aimed at engineering micro-organisms,
in particular Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These can be used for
the production of bio-fuels, whose properties are very similar to petroleum-based
fuels, but their combustion does not release additional quantities of CO2 in the
atmosphere as they are synthesized from sugars derived from biomass. Compared
to the technologies currently being adopted, based on a cocktail of enzymes, the use
of
specially engineered
microorganisms significantly reduces
the
cost
of
transforming cellulose into glucose for the production of bio-fuels.
Clément Sanchez, Collége de France in Paris, has been awarded the " Protection of
the Environment" prize. Dr. Sanchez is a pioneer in the development of highly
innovative technologies for the design, synthesis and processing of multifunctional
inorganic and hybrid organic-inorganic materials, which have important applications
in the energy, energy saving, environmental and medical fields.
The two "Debut in Research" prizes, reserved for researchers under the age of 30
with a PhD from an Italian University, go to Martina Siena and Nicola Bortolamei.
The thesis of Martina Siena analyses the numerical simulation of fluid flow in oil and
gas deposits, which is extremely important to predict the productive behaviour of oil
4
and natural gas deposits. Martina's research proposes an original approach to define
the distribution of observable characteristics of porous media, explaining effectively
the physical parameters that control flow and transport in oil formations. Her theory
has been experimentally confirmed.
Nicola Bortolamei has written an excellent thesis on the electrochemical methods
for the production of special polymeric materials, including biological systems.The
results of these studies have been published in prestigious international scientific
journals.
.
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5
ENI AWARD 2014
Prize New Frontiers in Hydrocarbons - Upstream
Tapan Mukerji
Gary Mavko, Jack Dvorkin Dario Grana
Winners
Pioneering innovations in theoretical and practical rock physics for seismic
reservoir characterization
The research of Professor Mukerji aimed at discovering the main petrophysical
parameters (rock type, mineralogy, porosity, fluid type) determining
the particle
motion of the earth during seismic acquisition experiences. This generated a new
vision of seismic data, and his models are now an industry standard for interpreting
seismic measurements. His contribution is not only limited to theoretical aspects, but
is
strongly characterized
by applicative
imprints
and
educational
activity.
Biography
Tapan Mukerji serves as an Associate Research
Professor in the Department of Energy Resources
Engineering and in the Department of Geophysics at
Stanford University. He co-directs the Stanford
Center for Reservoir Forecasting (SCRF) and is
associated with the Stanford Rock Physics and
Borehole Geophysics (SRB), as well as the Stanford
Basin and Petroleum System Modeling (BPSM)
research groups.
The academic career of Professor Mukerji started
with his Ph.D. in Geophysics, defended in 1995 at Stanford University, preceded by
his M.Sc (Tech) from Banaras Hindu University, India in 1989. He also covered
various significant roles. In 2002 Professor Mukerji acted as Co-Chair of the
Technical Committee of the 11th Venezuelan Geophysical Congress. From 2008 he
has been Co-Director of the Stanford Center for Reservoir Forecasting, Stanford
University, also serving since 2011 as Associate Editor of Computers and
6
Geosciences. Since 2001, he is the Associate Editor of Geophysics. He is a coauthor of The Rock Physics Handbook and Quantitative Seismic Interpretation.
Professor Mukerji devoted his research to the attempt to integrate rock physics,
geostatistics, wave propagation, developing stochastic methods for quantitative
reservoir characterization, time-lapse reservoir monitoring and geomodeling
applications. Professor Mukerji combines experience in conducting leading edge
research, teaching and directing graduate student research. He is particularly
interested in forging links between research disciplines in geosciences, engineering,
and management sciences.
His outstanding scientific career was awarded by many prizes. Professor Mukerji
obtained in 2000 the Karcher Award by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. In
2004, the SPG Conference in India tributed him the Best Paper Award, while in 2010
he won the Best Paper Award by the International Association of Mathematical
Geosciences. In 2010 he was an invited keynote speaker at the Society of Petroleum
Geophysicists (SPG) International Conference, Hyderabad, India; in 2011 he was
again invited speaker at the Recent Advances and Road Ahead, Society of
Exploration Geophysicists Annual International Meeting, San Antonio.
Research description
The authors have pioneered, and led the development of rock physics to link
observable seismic characteristics of rocks to reservoir properties (porosity, lithology,
texture, permeability) and conditions (saturation and pressure). In addition to the
scientific value of the models developed by the authors, the practical applications in
oil industry workflows are unlimited. The focus of the authors’ research has been on
integrating fundamental physics, mechanics, statistics, and wave propagation for
applications in
reservoir characterization
and monitoring.
This group has
demonstrated a unique and extraordinary ability for developing, understanding, and
combining theories from diverse fields to arrive at elegant scientific and practical
solutions to complex problems in hydrocarbon exploration.
Rock physics links seismic data to reservoir modeling: it establishes transforms
between elastic properties obtained from seismic data and rock properties to be used in
7
reservoir modeling. Rock physics can be used for seismic interpretation, reservoir
property estimation, pore pressure studies, feasibility analysis, time lapse seismic
inversion and seismic history matching. In addition to traditional rock physics
workflows, over the past five years the authors have introduced models for anisotropic
rock properties as well as for unconventional reservoirs. Newly developed rock physics
equations and models quantify the seismic response of heavy-oil reservoirs. The
unique body of science thus created by the authors has revolutionized quantitative
reservoir characterization and seismic time-lapse monitoring.
The theoretical rock physics models introduced by this group are now an industry
standard widely used in interpreting seismic measurements for rock properties and
conditions, including fluid, pressure, and porosity mapping as well as anisotropy and
fracture characterization. The authors have been at the forefront of introducing and
developing cutting-edge new disciplines and methods such as statistical rock
physics, rock physics diagnostics and computational rock physics. Over the last five
years these new disciplines have begun to gain worldwide acceptance by academia
and industry.
The authors pioneered modern Monte Carlo methods in rock physics, inventing the
relatively new field of statistical rock physics. This has critical practical applications for
assessing uncertainties in any quantitative reservoir interpretation based on rock
physics models. The authors developed several methodologies to quantitatively use
statistical rock physics models in inversion and reservoir characterization workflows,
thus not only improving the reservoir description, but also quantifying the associated
risk and uncertainty. Recent inventions by the authors include Bayesian inversion
methods and stochastic optimization approaches where the authors combine rock
physics models and geostatistical methods to quantitatively interpret seismic data in
terms of lithologies and pore fluids. Advancing along another forefront, the authors
pioneered the emerging field of computational rock physics: a domain where the
authors creatively combined high resolution pore-scale imaging and innovative
computation to derive computationally-based rock physics transforms for use in
reservoir characterization.
Not only have they invented new methodologies, they have also been outstanding
8
educators and communicators, sharing and transferring their knowledge through
innumerable international industry courses, and producing students many of whom are
now academic and industry leaders. Articles by the authors in peer-reviewed journals
total several hundreds. Together, the authors have written three books (Seismic
Reflections of Rock Properties, 1st edition, The Rock Physics Handbook, 2nd edition,
and Quantitative Seismic Interpretation, 1st edition) which are on the desktops of
industry experts and students alike. Their widely-recognized books have become
influential in shaping rock physics and its practical use by the industry and academia
worldwide.
9
ENI AWARD 2014
Prize New Frontiers in Hydrocarbons - Downstream
Amir H. Hoveyda
Winner
Development of new reactions to transform unactivated alkenes into complex
molecular framework
The research of Professor Hoveyda interests discovery, design and development of
new catalysts for asymmetric catalysis and production of natural products of highly
interesting polymers. His last results concern
a new class of
Enantioselective
catalyst based on inexpensive components.
Biography
Amir Hoveyda holds the Patricia and
Joseph T. ‘49 Millennium Professor of
Chemistry
at
Boston
College
in
Chestnut Hill, MA. In addition, he is a
Distinguished Visiting Professor of
Chemistry at the Israel Institute of
Technology (Technion).
Professor
Hoveyda’s
academic
career began in 1986, when he
received
his
Ph.D.
from
Yale
University. He then worked as a
postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. From November 1987 to May 1988, he
served at the Pfizer Central Research, Cancer Group, being then proclaimed
Assistant Professor at the Boston College in June 1990. He was promoted to Full
Professor in 1994 and was appointed to his present position in 1998.
Today, his research interests are mainly related to enantioselective catalysis, and he
is particularly known for his outstanding work on developing catalysts for efficient
and stereoselective olefin metathesis. Professor Hoveyda’s research is further
10
focused on copper-catalyzed allylic alkylations, conjugate additions and protyl-boron
additions through the use of ligands and catalysts that have been developed in his
laboratories. In recent years, he has made significant contributions in the design of
exceptionally efficient N-heterocyclic carbenes as ligands and (metal-free) catalysts
for a wide range of enantioselective process, including those that generate C–C, C–
B or C–Si bonds.
He and his research group discover, design and develop new catalysts for chemical
synthesis that are easily prepared, stable to air and moisture and can be recycled.
They introduce efficient new chiral catalysts that can be used to synthesize important
organic compounds, often in highly enantiomeric purity, that are crucial to the
preparation of biologically and medicinally active agents. Professor Hoveyda's
research group is focused on transformations that are truly important (such as
conjugate additions and olefin metathesis), but cannot be catalyzed efficiently by any
existing methods. His catalysts for catalytic olefin metathesis have found numerous
applications in the pharmaceutical industry and, more recently, in the chemical
industry for conversion of renewable materials to high value products on very large
scale.
During the years, his outstanding scientific career was highlighted by various
recognitions. He received the R. B. Flint Graduate Fellowship Award from Yale
University in 1984 followed by the National Research Service Award, by the National
Institutes of Health, in 1985.
He received a National Young Investigator Award by the National Science
Foundation and an Eli Lilly Grantee Award in 1992. In 1993 he received a Pfizer
Research Award in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, and in 1994 an Alfred P. Sloan
Research Fellowship.
Other recognitions include: the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award in 1994, the
Johnson & Johnson Focused Giving Award in 1995, the American Chemical Society
Cope Scholar Award in 1998 and the Boston College Distinguished Senior Faculty
Research Award in 2000. He also won the Novartis Research Award in Synthetic
Organic Chemistry, in 2001, and the ExxonMobil Excellence in Catalysis Award in
2002. In 2005, he won the prestigious National Institutes of Health MERIT Award and
in 2007 the Tishler Prize, of Harvard University. In 2010 he was named the Yamada11
Koga Prize winner, and in 2014 he was the recipient of the American Chemical
Society Award for Creative Work in Organic Synthesis. He is a principal co-founder
of XiMo, AG.
Research description
Amir Hoveyda is responsible for several groundbreaking discoveries in design and
development of new catalysts for olefin metathesis, a broadly applicable chemical
transformation that converts a wide range of unsaturated hydrocarbons to a myriad
of high value cyclic and acyclic molecules.
The Hoveyda-type ruthenium-based carbenes are probably the most widely used
olefin metathesis catalyst in the world. These complexes are the most popular basic
template for development of supported versions of catalysts that remain active in
aqueous media. Hoveyda’s ruthenium catalysts have been applied several times for
the preparation of hydrocarbon-based pharmaceutical agents as well as polymers
that possess uniquely desirable properties.
Hoveyda has been instrumental in the development of molybdenum- and tungstenbased catalysts that have proven to be of considerable significance. These catalysts
offer unprecedented reactivity, but it is their ability of the new class to promote highly
Z-selective cross-metathesis and ring-closing metathesis reactions that will
undoubtedly leave a permanent mark on the way we will be able to convert
unsaturated hydrocarbons to a wide assortment of precious molecules.
The discovery of Z-selective olefin metathesis, first reported by Hoveyda in 2009,
has long been considered a “Holy Grail” of catalyst and reaction development. These
catalysts are now being applied in the chemical industry on large-scale
stereoselective polymer synthesis and conversion of renewable hydrocarbons to
high value materials in sustainable and exceptionally efficient ways.
12
ENI AWARD 2014
Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy Prize
Jay D. Keasling
Winner
Microbial Production of Hydrocarbon Fuels
The research program of Pprofessor Keasling is to engineer microorganisms to
produce hydrocarbons with similar properties to the fuels now derived from
petroleum. These fuels are synthesized from plant--‐derived sugars, therefore their
combustion does not add CO2 to the atmosphere and they are renewable. Recently,
Pprofessor Keasling demonstrated that a microorganism could be engineered to
synthesize and secrete enzymes to depolymerize cellulose and hemicellulose into
sugars and to produce a gasoline replacement (butanol), a diesel--‐fuel replacement
(fatty acid ethyl ester), or a jet fuel replacement (pinene). His research has had a
significant and long--‐lasting impact on renewable fuel production technology and on
the biofuels industry
Biography
Today, Jay D. Keasling is considered one of the
foremost authorities in synthetic biology, especially
in the field of metabolic engineering. He is a
Professor
of
Chemical
engineering
and
Bioengineering at the University of California,
Berkeley, also serving as Associate Laboratory
Director for Biosciences at the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, Chief Executive Officer of the
Joint BioEnergy Institute, and Director of the
Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center.
Professor Keasling received a Bachelor's Degree in
Chemistry and Biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1986. In 1988, he
13
obtained his M.S. and in 1991 his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of
Michigan under the supervision of Bernhard Palsson and Stephen Cooper. From
1991 to 1992, Professor Keasling performed post-doctorate research in the
Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University.
The current research interests of Professor Keasling concern the metabolic
engineering of the Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aimed to
produce biofuels. The research in the Keasling Laboratory focuses on the metabolic
engineering of microorganisms for degradation of environmental contaminants, as
well as for environmentally friendly synthesis. Keasling developed a number of new
genetic and mathematical tools to allow more precise and reproducible control of
metabolism. These tools are being used in such applications as synthesis of
biodegradable polymers, accumulation of phosphate and heavy metals, as well as
degradation of chlorinated and aromatic hydrocarbons, biodesulfurization of fossil
fuels and complete mineralization of organophosphate nerve agents and pesticides.
The outstanding career of Professor Keasling was recognized by numerous awards.
In 2006, Discover magazine proclaimed Jay Keasling Scientist of the Year. In 2007
Professor Keasling won the Professional Progress Award from the American Institute
for Chemical Engineers.
In 2009, Professor Keasling was awarded the first annual Biotech Humanitarian
Award by BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Organization. In 2012, Keasling was
awarded the Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment. In 2013,
BIO awarded Keasling the George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in
Industrial Biotechnology.
Keasling has received numerous research grants for his work. In 2004, the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation awarded him a $ 42.5 million grant to develop and
distribute the low-cost malaria treatment based on Keasling's technology. In 2007
and 2012, the US Department of Energy awarded Keasling a $125 million grant to
fund the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, CA.
Keasling is a Member of the United States National Academy of Engineering.
14
Research description
Jay Keasling’s research focuses on engineering chemistry inside microorganisms,
either to produce useful chemicals or to degrade toxic environmental contaminants.
There are two central themes to his research: building novel chemistry inside the cell
and developing genetic control systems to regulate that chemistry. With respect to
the first theme, Keasling’s group has reconstituted metabolic pathways from plants
and other organisms and constructed unnatural pathways inside the common
microorganisms E. coli and yeast to produce valuable or novel products or to
degrade unnatural chemicals. Toward the latter theme, his laboratory has developed
approaches to tightly and dynamically control gene expression, scaffolding
techniques to increase the flow of materials through biosynthetic pathways, and
computational methods to remodel proteins and design RNA-based control systems.
One of his most significant contributions to society is the engineering yeast to
produce artemisinic acid, a precursor that can be chemically converted to
artemisinin, the plant-derived, sometimes expensive and scarce drug that is widely
used to treat malaria. Keasling’s laboratory engineered yeast with a twelve-enzyme
biosynthetic pathway using genes from Artemisia annua and other organisms to
transform glucose into the complicated chemical structure of artemisininic acid. The
engineered microorganism is capable of secreting the final product from the cell,
thereby purifying it from all other intracellular chemicals and reducing the purification
costs and therefore the cost of the final drug. The resulting molecule is then
converted to artemisin or any other artemisinin derivative using well established
chemistry. This technology was licensed to Sanofi-Aventis, which scaled the
technology to production capacity; nearly 70 million treatments have been produced
so far, with a capacity to produce more than 100 million treatments annually. The
availability of microbially-sourced artemisinin will stabilize the price and supply of
artemisinin making it affordable and available to people in the Developing World.
To address
global climate
change, Keasling’s laboratory has engineered
microorganisms to synthesize hydrocarbon biofuels based on the fatty acid,
isoprenoid, and polyketide biosynthetic pathways, allowing continued use of existing
transportation infrastructure while reducing production of green house gases. His
group engineered E. coli and S. cerevisiae to produce the fatty acid-based biofuels
15
fatty acid ethyl esters and methyl ketones as well as the specialty chemicals, fatty
alcohols. Keasling’s group has also engineered microorganisms to produce
isoprenoid-based biofuels: isopentanol, an excellent substitute for gasoline; pinene,
a precursor to jet fuel; and bisabolene, a precursor to an excellent diesel substitute.
More recently, Keasling’s laboratory has engineered polyketide synthases to produce
commodity chemicals such as diacids, 3-hydroxyacids, and methyl ketones,
chemicals that would ordinarily be derived from petroleum and even some for which
no known chemistry exists.
Finally, Keasling’s laboratory has engineered microorganisms to degrade harmful,
man-made substances that pollute the environment, including chemical warfare
agents and pesticides. By combining genes from several different organisms into soil
microorganisms, the engineered microbes can completely neutralize the toxic
substance to non-toxic chemicals and then use the non-toxic chemicals for growth..
16
ENI AWARD 2014
Environmental Protection Prize
Clément Sanchez
Winner
Environmentally relevant chemistry of multifunctional materials: Tailor made
new efficient catalysts via chimie douce-aerosol process coupling
Professor Sanchez is the pioneer of multifunctional hybrid materials interesting in
the same solids properties related to energy, energy saving, environment and health,
all of them synthesized in mild conditions. This leads to more than 40 patents.
Biography
Clément Sanchez is Professor at the Collège
de France, the most highly recognized French
Institution,
where
he
has
the
Chemistry of Hybrid Materials.
Chair
of
He was the
19th Chemist to enter the Collège de France
since its creation in 1530. He was Director of
the Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière
Condensée de Paris (UMR 7574, University of
Pierre and Marie Curie-Collège de FranceCNRS) from 1999 to 2013. In the past years,
Professor Sanchez has been Director of
Research at the French Council Research
(CNRS)
and
Professor
at
l’Ecole
Polytechnique. He did a post-doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley,
and is currently performing research at the Collège de France in Paris.
His academy career started with his engineer degree, received in 1978 from the
École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris. It was followed by a “Thèse d’état”
(PhD) in Physical Chemistry, defended at the University of Paris VI in 1981. Between
1978 and 1982, he acted as Attaché de Recherche at CNRS, being then nominated
Chargé de Recherche in 1982 and Director of Research in 1988.
17
Professor Sanchez is a worldwide renowned expert in the fields of nanochemistry
and physical properties of nanostructured porous and non-porous transition metal
oxide based gels, as well as in porous and non-porous hybrid organic inorganic
materials shaped as monolith, microspheres and films. His main research interests
concern the design and development of inorganic and / or hybrid original
multifunctional materials to develop innovative responses to societal concerns in the
areas of environment, energy and medicine. He has also contributed to the study of
formation processes of inorganic and hybrid nanomaterials from the molecular
precursors to the final material (dense or porous materials, in the form of films,
powders, monoliths). His main areas of research include sensors and biosensors,
catalysis and photo-catalysis, photovoltaic, photoelectrochemical cells and fuel cells
as well as new therapeutic hybrid vectors.
Professor Sanchez is indeed, one of the pioneers of the research field that concerns
the controlled designed of hierarchically structured bio-inspired hybrid and inorganic
materials. Professor Sanchez, fellow of the Société Chimique de France, is the
recipient of many national and international awards, being also Member of several
Academies of Sciences (French, European, Spanish, Belgium) and Fellow of the
Material Research Society. In 1978, he won the Major Medal of the ENSCP, followed
in 1983 by a NATO Fellowship and, in 1988, by the IBM Price for "Materials
Science". In 1994 he won the Prize from the French Chemical Society (Solid State
Chemistry Division), while in 1995 he received the CNRS Silver Medal.
In 2007, he won the Lavoisier Medal CEA-Le Ripault and the Catalan-Sabatier
Award of the Real Sociedad Espagnola de Quimica; in 2008, the Gay-LussacHumboldt Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In 2009, Professor
Sanchez won the P. Süe Award of the French Chemical Society, while in 2010 he
received the Institut Français du Petrole Award of the French Academy of Sciences.
He recently received in Spring 2014 the first Sommer Award for “Man and Nature.”
Research description
The research of Professor Sanchez spans the areas of soft chemistry routes to
nano-structured materials, template synthesis, “legolike chemistry”, designed
18
construction of hybrid materials and hierarchically structured materials. He was the
main contributor to the creation of an international school of thinking devoted to the
control design of multifunctional hybrid materials.
Indeed, His fundamental scientific motivations have always been associated with the
design, synthesis and processing of original inorganic and hybrid organic-inorganic
materials. The development of such materials yields innovative responses to societal
concerns, mainly related to renewable energy and sustainable chemistry.
The goals of his research are to: - develop innovative preparation strategies to new
multifunctional hierarchical architectures with perfect control over their morphological
texture, structure and functionalization across different length scales, - develop or
adapt characterization techniques to study the complex in situ structural and textural
evolution during material synthesis and processing, - understand the processes of
formation from molecular precursors to the final inorganic and hybrid materials, tailor inorganic and hybrid material fabrication, and control their chemistry and
associated behavior. Very Early on he became convinced of the high importance of
coupling processing and chemistry, which impacts the resulting morphological
texture, structure and resulting material properties. Therefore, he initiated with his
young colleagues entirely new approaches to coupling template synthesis, using soft
chemistry, with a large variety of methods, including dip-coating, foaming, aerosol,
ink-jet printing, and electrospinning.
These strategies allow them to put in practice many of these fundamental concepts,
as demonstrated by the large set of patents filed with different industrial companies.
More recently, He explored via an IFPEN collaboration the possibility of aerosol
processing coupled with templated sol-gel synthesis for catalysts design. By coupling
sol-gel chemistry with a simple very low-cost and environmentally benign aerosol
process, new catalysts, which exhibit exceptional catalytic activities, good stabilities,
and
activities that are maintained much longer than classical zeolites were
produced. Moreover it is possible in one-pot to integrate organic functionality and/or
secondary nanoparticles within the porous structure. One quickly sees that this
strategy is giving birth to a broad range of innovative multifunctional catalysts.
19
Last but not least, this strategy is not limited to the synthesis of catalysts but is
already developed for the synthesis of new bioceramics and smart therapeutic
vectors, which through hybrid structures, integrate several simultaneous functions,
such as imaging, hyperthermia and controlled drug delivery. The world of hybrid
functional materials is indeed opening a land of interesting properties with numerous
societal positive impacts. The possibilities offered by the chemistry of hybrid
materials are only limited by our imagination.
20
ENI AWARD 2014
Debut in Research Prize
Nicola Bortolamei
Winner
Electrochemistry for Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization: from mechanism
to more controlled synthesis
Dr. Bortolamei has developed original contributions in the field of Atom Transfer
Radical Polymerization (ATRP), one of the most successful techniques for producing
polymers with determined molecular weights and specific architectures. He
developed for the first time copper-nitrogen ligand catalysts, but also studied their
mechanisms of electrochemical activation. Despite the presence of different
complexes in the medium, he demonstrated that the only active species is Cu I :L with
a 1 :1 stoechiometry.
Biography
Nicola
Bortolamei
attended to the Università
degli Studi di Padova,
where he obtained his
B.S. (2005) and his M.S.
(2008)
in
Industrial
Chemistry, as well as his
PhD
in
Molecular
Sciences (October 2012).
His PhD thesis, written
under the supervision of Professor Armando Gennaro and entitled “Electrochemistry
for Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization: from mechanism to more controlled
synthesis”, represents a remarkable and original contribution to the understanding of
the fundamentals of Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP), an extremely
effective technique for the preparation of a large variety of high value and with welldefined properties advanced polymeric materials.
21
The scientific relevance of Nicola Bortolamei's research has already led him to
collaborate to a patent and to publish seven papers in distinguished international
peer-reviewed journals. Furthermore, he has already been awarded with prestigious
acknowledgements in his field of research. In fact, besides being among the winners
of the 2014 edition of the Eni Award, he won in 2012 a Prize conferred by the
Electrochemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society to the three best Italian PhD
theses in Electrochemistry. In the same year, he also received the “Domenico
Meneghini” Prize, bestowed to the most deserving student conducting a research
project at the Molecular Science Doctorate School of the University of Padova.
During his PhD Nicola Bortolamei has also been visiting scholar for five months, from
September 2011 to March 2012, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (USA),
where he collaborated with the Matyjaszewski's Polymer Group to the development
of
a
new
methodology
of
controlled
aqueous
radical
polymerization
(Electrochemically Mediated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization).
Dr. Bortolamei is currently working as a researcher and project manager at FIAMM
Group, where he is mainly involved in the development of batteries for hybrid
vehicles and energy storage applications.
Research description
In recent years, living/controlled radical polymerizations (L/CRP) has attracted
remarkable attention for the preparation of tailor-made and multifunctional polymeric
materials.
Among
these
polymerization
methods,
Atom
Transfer
Radical
Polymerization (ATRP) has recorded the highest success thanks to its versatility,
robustness and ease of application.
In ATRP a metal catalyst reversibly activates a macromolecular dormant species to
produce the propagating radicals and the oxidized metal complex. Typically, the
ATRP equilibrium is strongly shifted towards the dormant state. Thus, the very low
concentration of radical species makes bimolecular terminations drastically
disfavored and promotes a homogeneous macromolecular growth, leading to
polymers with pre-determined molecular weights (MWs), narrow MWs distributions,
22
specific macromolecular architectures and functionalities.
The project “Electrochemistry for Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization: from
mechanism to more controlled synthesis” has been first focused on the application of
electrochemistry to the study of fundamental aspects related to the activation
mechanism.
For the first time since ATRP was discovered, it has been identified the real nature of
the active catalyst and the reaction mechanism has been reviewed accordingly. On
the whole, these studies shed lights in the activation mechanism of ATRP, giving
grounds for the development of new and more efficient catalytic systems.
In the second part of the project, electrochemistry was used as a tool to further
enhance the control over the macromolecular growth. An innovative technique,
namely “Electrochemically mediated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization”
(eATRP), has been developed and tested. In eATRP, the metal catalyst is
electrochemically generated at an electrode surface; in this way, an additional source
of control is introduced in the polymerization. Indeed, by simply tuning the
electrochemical parameters (i.e. the applied potential or the applied current), ATRP
can now be switched off/on on demand, can be slowed down or accelerated, can be
guided through wide or narrow molecular weight distributions. The system has been
also proved in aqueous systems, which are traditionally challenging for ATRP
because of the catalyst instability. By selecting the appropriate electrochemical
conditions, successful controlled polymerizations were realized, allowing a better
environmental compatibility of the overall process.
The development of eATRP has represented an authentic breakthrough in the field of
L/CRP; it opened a new way of conducting a radical polymerization process, through
which the reaction kinetics and the properties for the polymeric materials can be
precisely controlled by using electrochemical tools.
23
ENI AWARD 2014
Debut in Research Prize
Martina Siena
Winner
Characterization of permeability of natural and reconstructed porous media
Dr. Siena’s works
concern the characterization of permeability of natural and
reconstructed porous media in geological systems. She developed an entirely novel
method for the interpretation of observed features of statistical scaling of porous and
fractured media , with emphasis on permeability.
Biography
Martina Siena received her B.S.
(2006) and M.S. (2009) cum
laude in Physics, respectively
from the Università degli Studi di
Parma and the Università degli
Studi di Trieste. She continued
her
studies
in
this
latter
university, where she enrolled for
a
research
Environmental
doctorate
and
in
Industrial
Fluid Mechanics.
Martina Siena's PhD thesis research activity (Characterization of permeability of
natural and reconstructed porous media) was developed under the direct supervision
of Professor Alberto Guadagnini and Professor Monica Riva (Politecnico di Milano),
as the young scientist performed her PhD research in Milan. Moreover, during her
PhD she spent a period of six months at the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ).
Martina Siena proposed a really fresh and promising approach to the study of the
variability of hydrological properties in porous media, focusing in particular on
permeability, and was able to combine a robust theory with realistic chances of
24
applicability in environmental and industrial fields (e.g. effectiveness prediction of
strategies for oil and gas recovery, protection and reclamation of aquifer systems,
assessment of the impact of anthropogenic activities on geological systems).
From January 2013, Martina Siena serves as post-doctoral research fellow in the
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.
Research description
The heterogeneous nature of geological media has emerged as a critical issue in
several fields, including Earth system sciences, physics, oil and gas engineering
applications, hydrocarbon dynamics in permeable media, groundwater hydrology,
petrophysics, and geophysics.
Efforts keyed to the quantification of the heterogeneity of geological systems typically
focus on theidentification of models which are then employed to interpret salient
features of hydrogeological properties observed at given investigation scales.
The critical question of the way information content impacts our ability to describe
subsurface flow and transport dynamics across different observation scales has not
been completely answered.
This work provides a contribution to understanding the way the multiscale nature of
geological media can be quantitatively embedded in a unified and general theoretical
modeling framework.
The approach rests on a stochastic framework, through the evaluation of the scale
dependency of relevant (statistical) moments of hydrogeological variables. Prime
emphasis is given to permeability of porous and fractured formations.
The novel methodology proposed preserves consistency of statistics across scales,
thus enabling one to downscale or upscale admissible statistical moments of the
target quantity to settings entailing smaller or larger measurement and/or sampling
scales, respectively.
25
This research is rooted in the world of theoretical analysis of stochastic processes.
The results have clear implications in the field of hydrocarbon dynamics in
heterogeneous reservoirs and basins, an immediate application being the ability of
quantifying scaling of permeability measured on different supports and within
different observation domains in sedimentary and fractured formations.
The work opens a broad and unique way of looking at the impact of uncertainty
distributed on diverse scales on flow and transport dynamics in geological media.
Medium and long term possible avenues of applications of the research which are
currently under investigation include:
(a) modeling (multiphase) flow and reactive transport within a stochastic framework;
(b) upscaling of (multiphase) flows in heterogeneous geologic media;
(c) designing and interpretation of new laboratory scale experiments to unveil basic
physics linked to the hierarchical structure of the porous/fractured formation.
26
Eni Award – history
In July 2007, it was officially established the Eni Award as envisaged in the Master
Plan Technological Eni, extending and replacing the - Eni Italgas award - already
Italgas Prize – which was launched in 2006 at the XIX edition.
The Eni Award aims to develop a better use of energy sources,
to promote
environmental research as well as to increase the value of new generations of
researchers.
The Award, which is assigned on a yearly basis, is conceived as a statement of the
importance that Eni places to scientific research and to sustainability, and it connotes
to the complexity of the approach to the sustainable energy themes.
The Award can rely on a sound and prestigious network of researchers in the energy
and environmental field.
The Award Scientific Commission - called to assess the applications and give
recognition- is of
highest level and includes researchers and scientists from
worldwide renown research institutions such as the Nobel Prize Sir Harold Kroto.
Two more Nobel Prizes,
Alan Heeger and Theodor Hansch have also been
members of the Commission in the last years.
In the past seven editions, 42 researchers from France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, United States of America, Canada, India and Australia were
awarded. More than 10000 were the researchers involved, coming from all over the
world, presenting over the years, their research studies; beside, equally numerous
leading personalities have guaranteed their work being part of the various
commissions.
http://www.eni.com/eni-award/eng/storia_2013.shtml
27
Eni and Research
Research partnerships
Eni is an integrated energy company, committed in the growth of research activities,
production, transport, transformation and commercialization of oil and national gas.
All Eni ‘s men and women have a passion for challenges, continuous improvement ,
excellence and give crucial value to people, to the environment and to integrity.
Attention to the environment , safety, efficiency and control on technological frontier
are the key points upon which Eni places its distinctive role in the global energy
landscape .
The retention of technological leadership is a key factor in the achievement of these
goals and to qualify Eni as an excellent operator. The growth of the know-how also
leverages on strategic alliances and collaborations with leading universities and
excellence centers: in the 2011-2013 period more than 270 partnerships with a
hundred of universities in Italy and abroad were activated.
Eni’s R&D
Eni has selected 10 key technological platforms on which invests primarily for the
business development in the medium and long term. These platforms cover both
core areas (exploration , production, oil and gas transportation, fuels production, high
performances and low environmental impact , integrated gas and electricity
management and petrochemicals ) and renewables (solar and biomass energy) , the
environmental sustainability of the operations and increase of energy efficiency . The
activities are carried out in five Research Centres.
The Research Centre of San Donato Milanese , inaugurated in 1985, is focused on
research activities and technological development in the Oil & Gas field. The
laboratories claim exceptional skills in the upstream and downstream oil – refining
fields , which are used in research projects to improve access to mineral resources
28
and their exploitation more and more efficiently, particularly in border areas . Issues
of great importance are the production and exploitation of unconventional
hydrocarbons, the production of fuels and lubricants of high quality and reduced
environmental impact.
The Non-Conventional Energies - Donegani Institute of Novara, since 1941 is one of
the main Italian industrial research centers , which has operated in the past mainly in
the technological innovation within the chemistry field. In 2007 Eni has outlined the
Institute’s the new mission, which has become the Research Centre for NonConventional Energy - Eni Donegani Institute. Currently the Donegani is engaged on
solar energy project and the development of biomass through bio-fuels conversion.
The Institute also serves as a center of environmental expertise and is responsible ,
in collaboration with Syndial, of monitoring and remediation of groundwater and soil
on grounds previously used as industrial sites.
The other three Research Centres, Ferrara , Mantova and Ravenna , carry out
activities in support of Versalis’ petrochemicals business. Recently, as part of the
new line of activity on the "green chemistry", Versalis established in Novara the
Centre for Research on Green Chemistry, associated to the Research Centre for
Non-Conventional Energy .
Eni’s researchers constantly collaborate with laboratories of excellence on projects
with a high degree of innovation and potentiality applicables. . In fact, Eni believes
that the interaction between internal and external research is the key to achieve real
technological discontinuity along with a multidisciplinary approach. To this purpose,
Eni has developed an extensive scientific network aimed at the development of
breakthrough technologies in the long term and for a long time has been setting
strategic alliances with major international players such as the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Boston and Stanford University, Palo Alto and has signed
framework agreements with Milan and Turin Polytechnics and with the CNR. The
commitment to research and innovation enable Eni to maintain technological
leadership in core sectors such as exploration and production of hydrocarbons,
where technology is a key factor for ensuring operational excellence, operations
safety, the ability to access to border areas. Is on these factors in fact that
competition and oil companies bet on.
The application of research results within Eni’s business operations provides
significant returns in terms of tangible value beside reputation and company’s
29
visibility.
These benefits, estimated in the year, refer to technologies gained in the last five
years are result up to 4-5 times higher than the annual spending on research and
development .
http://www.eni.com/en_IT/innovation-technology/research-centres/research-centers.shtml
30
More simply…
New Hydrocarbons Frontiers Award - Upstream
Tapan Mukerji
Have you ever heard a rock speaking? No, we're not joking: rocks can really speak
and tell us about themselves, their history, how they feel. You need certainly to have
experience, and a particular sensitivity to translate their language just like Tapan
Mukerji does, associate professor and researcher at Stanford University, winner of
Eni Award for Upstream. Professor Mukerji together with his team, Professors Gary
Mavko, Jack Dvorkin and Dario Grana, have mastered
and developed a
mathematical model able to progressively increase the effectiveness of subsurface
seismic surveying, offering an accurate picture of its contents and a simple and
practical solution to the complex problems linked to oil exploration. We obtain this
result by making rocks speak, stimulating their surface with sound waves to receive
their replies in form vibration thanks to geophones. The analysis of the type of
vibration will tell us the kind of soil we are dealing with and it holds in store for us.
Here where Mukerji's studies step in. His mathematical model, in provides a data
interpretation much broader and more detailed interpretation in respect of any other
previous one. This is particularly useful to
identify and study the so-called "reservoir
rocks" that in virtue of their porous structure
result as the most suitable ones to contain
hydrocarbons. Not only, this method allows the
assessment
of
rocks
state,
in
terms of
structure, highlighting any eventual anomalies,
thereby making it also fruitful to other domestic
and industrial applications. In other words, with
his studies, Tapan Mukerji has managed to
combine physical models and tools, mechanics
with statistics , integrating one another at best
hence optimizing the collection and analysis of
data obtained through seismic surveys.
31
New Frontiers of Hydrocarbons Award – Downstream
Amir H. Hoveyda
Well, here is your drop of oil. It is truly prodigious. You can use it while driving the
car, flying or heating your own home. How? Doesn’it work? Well, you've forgotten
the essential, the magic wand touch. Our magic wand takes the name of “catalyst”
and will transform your drop of oil into petrol, kerosene, diesel and many other
products that you use every day. Yes, because oil is made up of many different
molecules that must be separated from one another, generally through heat. In order
to reach their completion, the molecules obtained need to be further processed and
to speed up the ultimate phase, the employment of the catalyst is crucial. Amir
Hoveyda, Chairman of the Chemistry Department at the Boston College and winner
of the Downstream award, has created a catalyst even more powerful, effective and
economical, which exploits tungsten instead of the classic ruthenium, hence, with
huge savings. Hoveyda's catalytic system can also create chiral molecules which do
not overrun their mirror image,
just like our hands.
molecules,
by
virtue
These
of
the
catalyst, can then be controlled
and shaped according to our
needs, resulting useful in many
sensitive scientific fields such as
medicine, biology and material
sciences,
which
require
molecules with specific chirality.
Furthermore, Hoiveyda' studies
have
provided
support
to
Schrock, Chauvin and Grubbs’s
research studies, awarded with the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
32
Renewable Energy Award
Jay Keasling
You've just cleaned the garden and you still have a big pile of leaves, branches and
grass left?. Well, turn it into something useful! Perhaps use it to fill the tank of your
car. How? Thanks to the microorganisms studied by Jay Keasling, professor of
bimolecular engineering at the University of Berkeley and winner of the Eni Award in
the Renewable Energy field. Professor Keasling has focused his studies on two very
simple organisms: the Escherichia coli bacterium and the Saccharomyces cerivisiae
yeast. Both, skillfully modified by Keasling, have the power,
through the use of
specific enzymes, to break the cellulose molecules of agricultural waste and turn
them into other molecules useful to industry as petrol substitute for petrol, diesel and
aviation fuel. However, the problem is that these transformation processes produce
toxic substances that poison and kill these microorganisms, being unable to expel
them. Professor Keasling has overcome this
difficulty by endowing these bacteria and yeasts
with a sort of "molecular pump" that eliminates any
substance which would be harmful for them. What’s
the result? Yields much higher and high efficiency
even at cold temperature. This is clearly evidenced
by the five million kilometers covered in Brazil by
three hundred buses fuelled by one of the products
obtained by the process studied by Jay Keasling.
And that's not all: these compounds can also be
applied to other industrial fields such as, for
example, lubricants and cosmetics.
33
Environmental Protection Award
Clément Sanchez
A chemical reaction may have a more or less life span and it can be more or less
polluting. If you do not intend to become old awaiting its success, and - above all - if
you do not want to pollute the environment, choose your catalyst carefully, in other
words, a substance which makes the reaction between two or more molecules fast
and clean. Clément Sanchez, director of the "Chemistry of Condensed Matter"
laboratory in Paris, is one of the most skilled catalyst developers, and his research
studies in this field have been awarded the Eni Award in the "Environmental
Protection" field. Sanchez has developed a catalyst using materials similar to zeolite,
a mineral composed of aluminum, silicon and water, whose cage-shaped structure
is ideal to host and retain the molecules
which need to be combined. But that's not
all. The problem with zeolite is that its cage
sizes
are
limited
and
insufficient
to
accommodate all types of molecules. In
answer to this problem, Professor Sanchez
has created a spray of organic and nonorganic material allows the construction of
cages of variable size, according to need.
The
process is fast and useful beside it
requires small financial commitment and
ensures a least environmental impact.
Sanchez’s applications are several: the oil
industry, the synthesis of new bioceramic
materials to the extent of medicine where it
manages to create intelligent therapeutic vectors, able to release drugs in the body,
which require a constant and regular control such as for instance, insulin.
34
Debut in Research Awards
Nicola Bortolamei – Martina Siena.
Do you know how a pearl necklace
looks like? Well, a polymer is very
similar it differs by the replacement of
the molecules with the pearls. One after
the other, these molecules form long
chains, thus allowing the possibility of
creating new materials. Unfortunately, is
not always possible to create suitable
polymers. Chains may be too short, branched or with unwanted tructures. The
research studies carried out by Nicola Bartolamei, a researcher at the University of
Padua and the winner of one of the Eni Award in the "Debut in Research" section,
has fixed this problem. Bartolamei has worked on the catalysts which successfully
perform into polymerisation developing a technique wich allows a greater control
over their growth and endurance, speeding that up, stopping and starting it at will.
These results may also be obtained in water, an environment generally hostile to
these reactions.
Martina Siena, a researcher at the
Politecnico of Milan,
is the other
winner in the Debut section.
Her
PhD research work, which earned
her the Eni Award, has been
focused on the measurement of the
hydraulic properties variability of
porous
rocks
and
aquifers,
important to assess the impact of
mining activities on the subsurface.
In short, Miss Siena can assess the level of porosity and permeability of rocks
through an innovative mathematical model, able to define the subsurface’s
heterogeneity properties in the order of magnitude of one millimeter , thus,
theoretically envisaging their internal fluid system.
35