Innovator duo behind Sunpine awarded with Polhem Prize

From a residual product in the forest industry to a climate-smart biofuel. Lars Stigsson and Valeri Naydenov receive this year's Polhems Prize from the Swedish Society of Engineers for their unique innovation for the production of tall oil diesel, which significantly reduces climate impact.

Chemical engineer Lars Stigsson and chemist Valeri Naydenov are being praised for the process behind tall diesel, which is part of the world's first and only Nordic Ecolabelled fuel that is suitable for all diesel engines.

– It is with joy and pride that we accept the Polhem Prize. Receiving such a fine award for our technical solution and its benefits means an enormous amount, says Lars Stigsson.

Tall oil is a by-product of the production of paper pulp, making it a renewable energy resource from the Swedish forest. The idea of diesel based on tall oil was born in 2005 by Lars Stigsson and was developed together with Valeri Naydenov, first in the lab and later into a large-scale industrial process. Compared to traditional diesel, fossil carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by up to 90 percent.

– I believe that one of the success factors is the collaboration between us. Lars and I complement each other well. I have had a molecular focus, while Lars has had a goal focus, says Valeri Naydenov.

The development of the tall diesel, which will be further processed at Preem to become tank-ready green diesel, takes place at the Piteå-based company SunPine. The company currently produces approximately 100,000 cubic meters of tall diesel per year and is investing in a new facility to increase production by 50 percent by 2020.

Lars Stigsson is a civil engineer and was born in 1953 in Nybro, Småland, but now lives in Bjärred. He is a partner in SunPine and sits on its board.

Valeri Naydenov is a Doctor of Technology, born in 1974 in Vidin, Bulgaria. He now lives in Luleå and is Technical Development Manager for SunPine.

The award ceremony will take place at the Polhemsfest on November 14 in Stockholm. The winners will each receive a gold Polhems medal and a prize of SEK 250,000.

About the Polhem Prize

The Polhem Prize is Sweden's oldest technical award and is administered by the Swedish Society of Engineers. It was established in 1876 in memory of Sweden's great inventor Christopher Polhem (1661-1751). It is awarded for high-level technical innovation or for an ingenious solution to a technical problem. The innovation must be available on the open market and be competitive. It must also be sustainably environmentally friendly.

Previous laureates include Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munthers for the refrigerator (1925), Håkan Lans for GPS (1995), Laila Ohlgren for the "green button" on mobile phones (2009), Petra Wadström for the water purifier Solvatten (2013).

Contact details

Lars Stigsson, Polhems Prize Winner 2018: 070-533 72 73

Valeri Naydenov, Polhems Prize winner 2018: 070-696 96 53