Rune Holmstad has worked with strategic development of the Veas wastewater treatment plant, situated southwest of Oslo, Norway, for the last seven years. His key focus is in elaborating and developing industrial solutions for valorisation of the energy and nutrient resources in wastewater and municipal sludge applying knowledge and experience from various positions within pulp and paper industry companies in Norway. The work has resulted in installation of a biogas upgrading plant, with a capacity equivalent to 9 million litres of autodiesel annually, producing liquefied biomethane (bio-LNG). Currently the main focus is capacity increase and renewal of the existing sludge treatment meeting existing and future legislation and end user demands meanwhile opening possibilities for valorisation of municipal sludge as a bioresource in a sustainable way. Other projects include microalgae cultivation to recycle residue nutrients in treated wastewater, harvesting of nitrogen from reject water and integration of pyrolysis in the water-energy-biosolids nexus. 

Rune holds a degree in Master of science in Chemical process technology and a PhD degree in Material science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.