Six students from TU Delft and TU Eindhoven recently competed for the best 2007 Bachelor and Master thesis on energy and sustainable development. The stunning quality of the Master dissertations submitted for the 2007 Shell Bachelor/Master Award however didn’t leave the jury any other choice but to break the rules and honor two Master students with the award: one of the winners was TU Delft graduate Rutger van Raalten.
Today politicians, academics and private corporations alike believe that to combat climate change and promote sustainable development, it is imperative to switch to more environmentally friendly energy alternatives. To promote initiatives that enable this to happen, Shell Nederland B.V. and the three Dutch technological universities annually confer an award for the Bachelor and Master dissertations that best promote a more sustainable energy supply.
This year’s final was unique, however. There weren’t two, but three finalists. “The quality of the dissertations was of such high standard, that we weren’t left with any other option than to announce three winners,” the jury said of its decision to honor not one but two Master students with the award.
The 2007 Shell Bachelor and Master Award ceremony was held last February at Eindhoven University. Each of the six finalists was asked to convince the jury in a two-minute elevator pitch how his or her contribution will most advance sustainable development.
The jury consisted of the President of Shell Nederland, Peter de Wit; the Vice-Chancellor of Eindhoven University, Hans van Duijn; and the Presidents of the Executive Board of Twente University and TU Delft, Anne Flierman and Hans van Luijk, respectively. The awards were presented to the finalists by the Dutch Education Minister, Ronald Plasterk.
The award for the best Bachelor thesis (2,500 euro) went to Dominique van Mullem from TU Eindhoven. Mullem focused his research on pulsed combustion: a combustion method that allows lower emission levels to be reached. Master student Paul Robeerst, also from TU Eindhoven, won for his groundbreaking work on the application of thin film technology: a technology that’s expected to substantially reduce the cost of solar panels.
It seemed as if the 2007 Shell Bachelor/Master Award contest would be a clean sweep for TU Eindhoven, but Rutger van Raalten, a chemistry graduate, kept TU Delft in the race with his thesis on fuel cell technology. The outcome of Van Raalten’s thesis work, which is a new type of fuel cell, is so exceptional that it will be patented. For this, Van Raalten joined Robeerst in winning a Shell Master Award worth 5,000 euro.
Breakthrough
Van Raalten managed to develop a type of electrode for fuel cells for which nearly 1000 times less catalyst is required, compared to currently commercially available fuel cells. “This reduction was obtained by growing platinum nano-particles in to a network of small nano-sized channels, called bicontinuous microemulsion. The microemulsion can be solidified and implemented as the electrode for a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell(PEMFC), which transforms chemical energy into electricity,” Van Raalten explains.
As catalyst costs dominate overall manufacturing costs for fuel cells, this reduction in catalyst represents a great breakthrough. Van Raalten: “The total production costs for a PEMFC now becomes comparable to present-day combustion engines.”
An exciting and difficult part of the award ceremony is however the ‘elevator pitch’. During the ceremony the contestants were given two minutes each to convince the jury that their idea, product or service is the best contribution of the year to a sustainable society. The elevator pitch was followed by a 3-minute Q&A session.
During the elevator pitch, Van Raalten had his fair share of excitement: “I started awfully and had a kind of black out for like five seconds. Luckily, I recovered pretty fast, which perhaps got me some sympathy from the audience.” After the pitch the jury performed a harsh cross-examination, and Van Raalten believes this was probably the moment the jury decided to award him the prize. “I think I convinced them then, because I used the opportunity to highlight once again the merits of innovative features of our design.”
Van Raalten’s research was done within the framework of research on self-assembly systems, led by Dr. Ger Koper of TU Delft’s Faculty of Applied Sciences. Van Raalten says that although a breakthrough has been achieved, there is still some work let to do: “In theory everything looked promising and even the lab results blew us away! But before this design can be translated into a commercial product, for example as a car engine, some issues need to be taken care of.” One example of such an issue is the ability of the fuel cell to remain stable under high temperatures and against external shocks.
The most apparent contribution of Van Raalten’s work is that it proves the value of self-assembling systems. These are systems that change from a disorganized system of components into a structured system, without any form of external influence. “My work shows what we’re able to optimize a hydrogen fuel cell with self assembly systems”, he says. “And this means a lot, because we can now think of introducing such systems in other areas!”
Apart from improving the fuel cell and thus easing the way for its applications, Van Raalten’s work contributes to sustainability in another way. Because there is less catalyst required for the same level of performance, the exhaustion of the catalyst (which is platinum) is mitigated.
Van Raalten is in no doubt that competing in and winning a competition like this has meant a lot for his career. “You get a lot of media attention and companies suddenly seem to know you,” he says enthusiastically.
Van Raalten says that the competition forced him to critically reflect upon his own capabilities and his thesis. “Winning the award provided me with the right atmosphere to talk to certain firms. It also convinced me to find a place where I can work on my business skills and learn to learn very fast. After graduation I started work at Holland’s oldest engineering firm, Royal Haskoning. It’s been a perfect match so far!”
Today politicians, academics and private corporations alike believe that to combat climate change and promote sustainable development, it is imperative to switch to more environmentally friendly energy alternatives. To promote initiatives that enable this to happen, Shell Nederland B.V. and the three Dutch technological universities annually confer an award for the Bachelor and Master dissertations that best promote a more sustainable energy supply.
This year’s final was unique, however. There weren’t two, but three finalists. “The quality of the dissertations was of such high standard, that we weren’t left with any other option than to announce three winners,” the jury said of its decision to honor not one but two Master students with the award.
The 2007 Shell Bachelor and Master Award ceremony was held last February at Eindhoven University. Each of the six finalists was asked to convince the jury in a two-minute elevator pitch how his or her contribution will most advance sustainable development.
The jury consisted of the President of Shell Nederland, Peter de Wit; the Vice-Chancellor of Eindhoven University, Hans van Duijn; and the Presidents of the Executive Board of Twente University and TU Delft, Anne Flierman and Hans van Luijk, respectively. The awards were presented to the finalists by the Dutch Education Minister, Ronald Plasterk.
The award for the best Bachelor thesis (2,500 euro) went to Dominique van Mullem from TU Eindhoven. Mullem focused his research on pulsed combustion: a combustion method that allows lower emission levels to be reached. Master student Paul Robeerst, also from TU Eindhoven, won for his groundbreaking work on the application of thin film technology: a technology that’s expected to substantially reduce the cost of solar panels.
It seemed as if the 2007 Shell Bachelor/Master Award contest would be a clean sweep for TU Eindhoven, but Rutger van Raalten, a chemistry graduate, kept TU Delft in the race with his thesis on fuel cell technology. The outcome of Van Raalten’s thesis work, which is a new type of fuel cell, is so exceptional that it will be patented. For this, Van Raalten joined Robeerst in winning a Shell Master Award worth 5,000 euro.
Breakthrough
Van Raalten managed to develop a type of electrode for fuel cells for which nearly 1000 times less catalyst is required, compared to currently commercially available fuel cells. “This reduction was obtained by growing platinum nano-particles in to a network of small nano-sized channels, called bicontinuous microemulsion. The microemulsion can be solidified and implemented as the electrode for a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell(PEMFC), which transforms chemical energy into electricity,” Van Raalten explains.
As catalyst costs dominate overall manufacturing costs for fuel cells, this reduction in catalyst represents a great breakthrough. Van Raalten: “The total production costs for a PEMFC now becomes comparable to present-day combustion engines.”
An exciting and difficult part of the award ceremony is however the ‘elevator pitch’. During the ceremony the contestants were given two minutes each to convince the jury that their idea, product or service is the best contribution of the year to a sustainable society. The elevator pitch was followed by a 3-minute Q&A session.
During the elevator pitch, Van Raalten had his fair share of excitement: “I started awfully and had a kind of black out for like five seconds. Luckily, I recovered pretty fast, which perhaps got me some sympathy from the audience.” After the pitch the jury performed a harsh cross-examination, and Van Raalten believes this was probably the moment the jury decided to award him the prize. “I think I convinced them then, because I used the opportunity to highlight once again the merits of innovative features of our design.”
Van Raalten’s research was done within the framework of research on self-assembly systems, led by Dr. Ger Koper of TU Delft’s Faculty of Applied Sciences. Van Raalten says that although a breakthrough has been achieved, there is still some work let to do: “In theory everything looked promising and even the lab results blew us away! But before this design can be translated into a commercial product, for example as a car engine, some issues need to be taken care of.” One example of such an issue is the ability of the fuel cell to remain stable under high temperatures and against external shocks.
The most apparent contribution of Van Raalten’s work is that it proves the value of self-assembling systems. These are systems that change from a disorganized system of components into a structured system, without any form of external influence. “My work shows what we’re able to optimize a hydrogen fuel cell with self assembly systems”, he says. “And this means a lot, because we can now think of introducing such systems in other areas!”
Apart from improving the fuel cell and thus easing the way for its applications, Van Raalten’s work contributes to sustainability in another way. Because there is less catalyst required for the same level of performance, the exhaustion of the catalyst (which is platinum) is mitigated.
Van Raalten is in no doubt that competing in and winning a competition like this has meant a lot for his career. “You get a lot of media attention and companies suddenly seem to know you,” he says enthusiastically.
Van Raalten says that the competition forced him to critically reflect upon his own capabilities and his thesis. “Winning the award provided me with the right atmosphere to talk to certain firms. It also convinced me to find a place where I can work on my business skills and learn to learn very fast. After graduation I started work at Holland’s oldest engineering firm, Royal Haskoning. It’s been a perfect match so far!”
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