Sparbanken Skåne Research Prize 2022 to Louise Green

The prize will be awarded to a person for good research, preferably in the field of environment and sustainable development, which is beneficial to the development of business and society. The prize is worth SEK 100 000.

The Sparbanken Skåne Research Prize 2022 was awarded to:

Louise Green for her thesis in the subject Aerosol Technology:

"Renewable diesel fuels and emission control strategies: Implications for occupational exposure, human health, and the environment"

Your doctoral thesis is about emissions from renewable fuels used in internal combustion engines for heavy-duty diesel vehicles. How did you become interested in this particular topic?

To achieve a sustainable society, we need to phase out fossil fuels, and one possibility is to replace the need with bio-based fuels in existing vehicles. However, less was known about how emissions were changing and how they could affect health and the environment. Particulate emissions are a major public health problem and I was interested in how modern after-treatment systems and fuels affected particulate emissions and, by extension, health and the environment. Trucks and heavy vehicles are more difficult to electrify and replace than cars, for example, and so it seemed important to focus on these. I had a background as an engineer in nanoscience with a special interest in materials and analytical methods, so it was particularly exciting to have the opportunity to investigate combustion particles that are around 100 nanometers with a large arsenal of state-of-the-art instruments that LTH and the Aerosol laboratory have.

What challenges have you encountered during your time at LTH?

What has been challenging is often what has been the most fun. But above all, it could be challenging to work in interdisciplinary projects and with researchers from different parts of the world. It places great demands on the person in the middle to be able to understand and communicate in different research areas. Practically driving the projects forward was also challenging as several departments and many people were involved.

What are your plans now that you have finished your thesis and have a PhD from LTH?

I am now working on technical problem investigations at Borg Warner in Landskrona at their technology site, the European Technical Center, which develops powertrain and propulsion systems for hybrid, electric and internal combustion vehicles. Here I will have the opportunity to continue to run projects with complex issues and collaborate with people from different parts of the company but also with external partners from various research institutes and universities, among others.