*The concept had been in the making for over 10 years
WorldStage Newsonline– Dr Eni Oko, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Chemical Engineering, Newcastle University, a joint winner of The Nigeria Prize for Science 2024 has expressed hope that the recognition will help platform the technology and attract other partners to work with them to take the development to the next level.
The joint entry “Process Intensification Technology for Greenhouse Gas Emission Control in Power Generation and Industry for Sustainable FUEl Production (PIC-FUEL)” by Dr Oko along with Dr Olajide Otitoju from School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, The University of Sheffield, UK and Meihong Wang, Professor of Energy Systems Engineering, University of Sheffield was on Monday announced at the winner for the 2024 The Nigeria Prize for Science to receive a prize of $100,000.
Dr Oko exclusively told WorldStage through an email from his base in the UK that the concept had been in the making for over 10 years.
He said, “We were very pleased to hear that our submission had been recommended by the panel of judges and approved by the advisory board.
“To finally get the recognition after such a long time was satisfying.”
In a significant announcement that could reshape Nigeria’s energy future, the Advisory Board of The Nigeria Prize for Science on Monday named the trio as the winners of the 2024 edition of the Prize sponsored by the NLNG.
The Board highlighted the importance of the 2024 competition theme, “Innovations and Technologies for Reducing the Effect of Climate Change,” which underscored the need for urgent solutions to environmental challenges.
According to the Chairman of the Advisory Board, Professor Barth Nnaji, the innovation could significantly reduce harmful emissions from power plants and factories while creating cleaner, greener fuels.
Explaining the significance of the groundbreaking work by the three scientists, Prof. Nnaji stated that the PIC-FUEL technology worked by capturing CO2 emissions directly from industrial sources such as power plants, cement factories, and refineries. He said the emissions are passed through a unit called the Rotating Packed Bed (RPB), where CO2 is absorbed using a solvent and the absorbed CO2 is then converted into methanol through a reaction with hydrogen in an electrolyser machine. The methanol can then be directly blended with diesel or sold as a product.
“Imagine if every time a factory or power plant released CO2, instead of harmful gases escaping into the atmosphere, those gases were captured, transformed, and repurposed into cleaner, more sustainable fuels. That is exactly what PIC-FUEL does. This revolutionary approach could cut emissions by 40%, significantly reducing Nigeria’s carbon footprint and helping the country achieve its 2060 net-zero goals without expensive government subsidies. PIC-FUEL implementation will fully decarbonise the power and industrial sectors and deliver up to 20% decarbonisation of diesel-fueled transportation and household/SME electricity generators through the supply of cleaner diesel.
“The technology doesn’t just ensure cleaner air; it also offers significant economic benefits. It could reduce the cost of cutting down emissions by 30-40%, translating to considerable reductions in the national budgetary requirement for implementing the Nigerian Energy Transition Plan, equivalent to $120-140 billion, and achieving the 2060 net zero target. Additionally, by producing cleaner diesel locally, the country could save up to $500 million annually in foreign exchange, strengthening the local economy and stabilising the Naira.
He disclosed that the proof of concept of the winning work has been established in the U.K. and Norway.
ABOUT DR ENI OKO
A Process and Energy Systems Engineer and Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Chemical Engineering at Newcastle University, UK with over 15 years combined experience in academia and industry. My research is focused on system engineering and computational chemistry application in carbon capture and transport, hydrogen production, energy storage and energy systems analysis and integration.
He received over £900k in research funding (PI & CI) from different sources namely EPSRC, EU H2020, Royal Society and GCRF since August 2020 to date for ongoing/completed research projects (4 as PI and 2 as Co-I) with industrial and academic collaborators in UK, China, Norway, Belgium, South Africa and Nigeria. I also helped deliver 5 research projects from 2011 to 2019 with different funders including EPSRC, NERC, EU H2020 and BEIS. My work has been published in over 30 leading journals (H-index: 16) and presented in over 15 international conferences. One of my journal articles was awarded the SAGE Publishing Best Paper Prize 2014 and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) Ludwig Mond Prize 2014. This paper was also a major part of a 2020 UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) report titled “Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) deployment at dispersed sites”. Another journal article was the International Journal of Coal Science & Technology Best Paper 2017-2019 in “recognition of the quality made to the journal”.
Qualifications
BEng (Hons) Chemical Engineering – Fed Uni Tech Owerri, Nigeria
MSc (Hons) Process Systems Engineering – Cranfield University, UK
PhD Process and Energy Systems Engineering, University of Hull, UK
PgDip Research Skill – University of Hull, UK
PgCert Teaching and Learning – University of Sheffield, UK
Previous positions
2019-2022 Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Hull, UK
2016-2019 Post-doctoral Research Associate, University of Sheffield, UK
2015-2016 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, University of Hull, UK
2008-2010 Process Engineer, Notore Chemical Industries Ltd, Onne, Nigeria
Awards/Prizes
International Journal of Coal Science & Technology Best Paper 2017-2019 Award
IMechE Ludwig Mond Prize 2014 – for collaborative work on the UK Humber Region Case Study on CO2 capture and transport network
SAGE Publishing Best Paper Prize 2014
Primary delivery staff (Post-doctoral Research Associate) for the EPSRC funded project “Process Intensification for Post-combustion Carbon Capture using Rotating Packed Bed through Systems Engineering Techniques” (EP/M001458/1) which was runner up in the IChemE’s Global Awards 2019
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded PhD studentship (with Prof Meihong Wang, University of Sheffield as PI) – 2011
Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigeria Overseas Masters Scholarship – 2010
Membership
R.Eng (Council of Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria)
Corporate Member, Nigerian Society of Engineers
Associate Member, Institute of Chemical Engineers
