ShareObituary: Einar Brendeng
The IIR presents its deepest sympathy and sincerest condolences to Professor Einar Brendeng’s family, the Norwegian refrigeration industry and society.
An NTNU Refrigeration Giant who also drove the Norwegian industrial development
Prof. Brendeng started his scientific career in 1952 at the Department of Refrigeration Engineering at NTH (NTNU formerly). His academic career has much contributed to the development of the Norwegian business.
In 1970 he became a lecturer in refrigeration engineering at NTH and, in 1984, he signed an agreement with Statoil (Now Equinor, the Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company) on the development of LNG technology for the Snøhvit natural gas field (located 140 kilometres north-west of Hammerfest, Norway). Prof. Brendeng supported the field activities building up experimental devices to measure heat transfer and pressure loss in spiral heat exchangers. 12 PhDs were completed on the topic under his leadership.
After the completion of the research work at the Snøhvit site, Prof. Brendeng further investigated refrigeration technologies for LNG applications, as he has always been striving for securing energy access to Norwegian lands that are difficult to reach (mountains, fjords,...) and where the energy infrastructure is not developed. He believed that small-scale LNG should be a solution for energy supply in places where it is not profitable to build pipelines. He developed a patented technology for mass-producing condensing units. It is now a a Norwegian-owned technology for transporting LNG on ships.
“If I have done ONE stroke of genius in my life, it was to hire Einar Brendeng” said Professor Gustav Lorentzen, former president of the IIR’s Science and Technology Council, on many occasions.
Professor Einar Brendeng was a former vice-president of commission B1 and an IIR honorary member. But he was also a pillar of the Norwegian refrigeration industry. Prof. Einar Brendeng, who would have turned 100 years old on May 9th, leaves a legacy in the refrigeration field that will always be remembered. The IIR expresses its condolences and sympathy to his family and to the Norwegian refrigeration society.
