
Innovator of the year - employee 2022
Jonas Hedlund, professor and researcher in chemical technology at Luleå University of Technology, has been awarded the prize as Innovator of the Year 2022. Jonas Hedlund's research on zeolite membranes that can be used, among other things, for the purification of biogas to vehicle gas saves energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
- My company, ZeoMem Sweden AB, is the only company that markets zeolite membranes with sufficiently high permeability and selectivity to be of interest for industrial gas purification. Zeolite membrane processes are a new, cheap and compact technology that is about 90 percent more energy efficient than current technology. These processes can be used in an estimated 5% of the world's separation processes, which means that the energy saving potential of new zeolite membrane processes is equivalent to more than Sweden's annual oil consumption," says Jonas Hedlund.
Jury's motivation
After more than 20 years of research on zeolite membranes, Jonas Hedlund has developed a unique and scalable solution for biogas purification. It can radically reduce energy use, carbon dioxide emissions and electricity consumption in facilities ranging from small farms to very large industries. Jonas and his team at ZeoMem Sweden AB are now aiming for industrial scale-up to supply really large plants with membranes to purify natural gas and ethylene. An important contribution to the green transition and a more sustainable world. Jonas Hedlund is therefore well worthy of the Innovator of the Year award.
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