Students' designed pilot reseach plant

The project was originally initiated as part of the autumn 2010 Master in industrial design course PROTOHYPE. Design in High-Tech Research Environments. The students has since continued the design and building process on their own, alongside the UiO linked nano technology research company Protia. 

The container is Protia’s first test plant, where they go from laboratory to larger scale production. The goal of this plant is to produce one liter a day of Benzene from natural gas. This is a proof of concept for their product that consists of a proton conductor ceramic membrane which is only permeable to hydrogen. The technology is developed by Protia, which after 20 years of research in cooperation with UiO and NTNU, last year won the DnBNOR Innovation award.

• More about Protias work (Norwegian only)
• Innovasjonspris til UiO-tilknyttede Protia (UiO.no)

The plant consists of an office, an interactive animation space and a functioning test laboratory. The students have been involved with the whole design and execution of the project, from the first renders to every real installation, website and developing their corporate identity. Most of the wood furniture was made using the AHO wood workshops, while the metal was welded by the student Luke Rodwell in the AHO’s metal workshop.

Now they are starting to test out the plant, which is scheduled to start getting real results in July 2011.