Linn Berglund, senior lecturer in wood and bionanocomposites at Luleå University of Technology and part of the Bio4Energy research environment, has been awarded a multi-million SEK grant from the Jubileumsfonden to pursue a high-risk, high-reward research project.
Her research explores how forest industry residues can be refined into nanocellulose, a highly promising material for advanced applications in both medical technology and energy storage. The project focuses on understanding how processing affects the structure and functional properties of the materials, aiming to tailor bio-based solutions for specific end-uses like wound dressings and battery components.
“This project opens the door for interdisciplinary research that will provide valuable insights into the relationship between process, structure, and function in bio-based materials,” says Berglund. “In the long term, this knowledge can support the development of sustainable, high-performance materials adapted to modern needs.”
The funding is part of a university initiative to support bold and transformative research ideas with long-term societal relevance. Berglund’s project was selected from a highly competitive national pool of proposals.
Bio4Energy warmly congratulates Linn Berglund and looks forward to supporting the development of this pioneering research, rooted in renewable forest resources and contributing to a circular bioeconomy.
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Linn2.jpg8332112Irina Iakovlevahttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngIrina Iakovleva2025-06-09 09:18:432025-06-09 09:18:43Transforming Forest Residues into the Future: Bio4Energy Researcher Awarded Prestigious Grant
Quicklime production is one of Sweden’s most carbon-intensive industrial processes. Now, new research from Umeå University shows that electrification could become a realistic route to fossil-free production, without compromising product quality.
In her doctoral thesis, Katarzyna Olovsson investigates how electric heating can replace fossil fuels in quicklime production. Using a laboratory-scale electric furnace, she studied how different process temperatures and burn times affect the slaking reactivity of the lime—a key performance indicator in industrial applications. The findings were clear: all test samples reached medium to high reactivity.
“In our experiments simulating an electrified process, we tested how different temperatures and burn durations affect slaking reactivity. The results showed that all samples had medium to high reactivity, which means that this quality can be achieved using electric heating,” says Katarzyna Olovsson.
Quicklime is an essential component in the steel, pulp and paper, and water treatment industries. Its production, however, traditionally relies on fossil fuels to reach the high temperatures required, resulting in significant CO₂ emissions.
Olovsson’s work also examines how microstructure and carbonation behavior are influenced by electric heating and atmospheric conditions. Her research helps clarify how limestone type and process design affect the final product, offering valuable guidance for industries aiming to transition toward fossil-free solutions.
The thesis was defended in April 2025 at the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University. The research was conducted in collaboration with IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and industrial partners, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, and is linked to Bio4Energy’s platform for system studies and process integration.
PhD Supervisor, Professor Markus Broström — Affiliation with Umeå University
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Katarzyna_Olovsson.jpg708986Irina Iakovlevahttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngIrina Iakovleva2025-05-24 09:09:302025-05-24 09:11:45A Fossil-Free Future for the Lime Industry – New Research Lights the Way
Bio+ is a research and innovation program funded by the Swedish Energy Agency, with the aim to develop bio-based solutions and value chains as well as increase knowledge and competence about how these should interact with each other and with other energy systems.
Three new projects recently granted funding within the program are lead by Bio4Energy researchers::
The project aims to develop and apply new software that integrates diagnostic sensors based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy, direct imaging techniques, and machine learning. The software will provide online real-time data on conversion efficiency, biomass moisture content, fuel feeding variation, and emissions in Swedish bio-based pilot and full-scale plants. The data will be used to perform feedback control and propose optimized operating practices for these plants. The expected outcome is the improvement of process efficiency and flexibility, reduction of pollutant emissions, along with increased digitalization in industry.
The project analyzes consequences of complex interaction between changes in different variables on forest-based raw material supply, and develops new and innovative methods to be able to provide holistic and comprehensive insights for a long-term and sustainable supply of raw materials. Time-dynamic and spatial development are presented in scenario descriptions and analyzed from a social science perspective, something that is missing today.
This project will investigate and further develop a concept called derivatization, where pyrolysis oil is reacted with a renewable oil, such as tall oil, and thereby forms a more stable product. The derivatized product is miscible with fossil oil and can be co-refined with these. The derivatization concept will be investigated experimentally and technoeconomically and a suggested industrial process for the concept will be developed.
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/vardan-papikyan-JzE1dHEaAew-unsplash-scaled.jpg17072560Elisabeth Wetterlundhttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngElisabeth Wetterlund2025-03-28 06:44:302025-03-28 06:44:30New Bio+ Projects to Bio4Energy Researchers
As the season draws to a close, Bio4Energy wants to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
This will be the last news post from Bio4Energy, from this publisher. Communications Anna Strom is leaving Bio4Energy at the end of 2024, but plans to be available by e-mail until the last week of January 2025. Please click the link below, to contact her.
Greatest thanks for this time to our researchers, collaboration partners, stakeholders, friends and colleagues.
With best regards,
Anna Strom
Bio4Energy Contact Anna Strom, Bio4Energy Communications
Bio4Energy scientists and partners are offering an opportunity for researchers to learn more about the benefits of applying for time to make experiments aided by brilliant X-ray light, at so-called synchrotron facilities, to study the inside of materials.
The partners are hosting a workshop 27 November at Umeå, Sweden; both for on-site and online participation. Sweden, where the scientists are based, is host to the world’s first fourth-generations synchrotron, the MAX IV Laboratory at Lund.
Synchrotrons are machines—giant particle accelerators—imagined as a tool for advancing science beyond what the forefathers of science deemed possible. With the aid of specialised staff, guest researchers can have a material that they want to know X-rayed with powerful light beams to the point of literally knowing it inside out.
With the aid of specialised staff, guest researchers at synchrotrons can have a material that they want to know X-rayed with powerful light beams to the point of literally knowing it inside out.
“Synchrotrons are very much like Swiss army knives, but the various tools attached utilise the brilliant X-rays for almost all kinds of X-ray-based measurement techniques”, according to Nils Skoglund, associate professor at Umeå University.
“Each experimental station has [its] own set-up and is called a beamline, where there is great expertise in the specific analysis performed within the beamline staff”, he added.
The research environment Bio4Energy has two experienced synchrotron research coordinators in its ranks. Skoglund leads the research platform Environment and Nutrient Recycling, while Mikael Thyrel heads up Feedstock Pre-processing. Thyrel is also head of his university department at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Endless possibilities forstudy and observation
From Skoglund’s platform, researchers have used beamline time thoroughly to investigate oxidation states of certain elements inside nutrient-carrying materials. They drew on the Balder beamline at MAX IV, for this undertaking. At DanMAX beamline they looked at the distribution of crystalline phosphates in 3D, for biomass ash and biochars. Biochar is charcoal, sometimes modified, that is intended for organic use, as in soil, says Wikipedia.
“These are just some examples of how Bio4Energy researchers utilise our large-scale research infrastructure where we are awarded beamtime in international competition”, Skoglund said.
Bio4Energy researchers have used beamline time to investigate oxidation states of certain elements inside nutrient-carrying materials and the distribution of crystalline phosphates in 3D, for biomass ash and biochar.
As the name of his research platform suggests, Skoglund scientific focus is nutrient and resource recovery from the energy sector. The team at his laboratory design renewable fuels and, by doing so, aim to alter the quality of ash remaining from combustion or gasification of biomass.
Whereas the scientific community has spent decades debating whether biomass ash should be ‘brought back’ to forest soils as a fertilizer, Skoglund has remained steadfast in his replies to Communications that it depends what is in the ash.
“Even though the goal is common, the desired fuel blend compositions are likely different for the forestry sector, agricultural sector, and waste streams from society”, he cautions on his university researcher’s profile.
As far as synchrotron research goes, Skoglund recommends a book by Swedish professor Jan-Erik Rubensson with the title of, Synchrotron Radiation – An everyday application of special relativity;
“So, it is not really correct to identify a specific type of research that could be conducted at a synchrotron—it is more about what phenomenon you want to observe with the brilliant X-ray light available”.
Video by courtesy of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, California, U.S.A. With special thanks to SLAC for spreading knowledge and for the permission to republish.
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SynchrotronRES_AS271124.jpg7201280Anna Stromhttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngAnna Strom2024-11-20 16:18:332024-12-02 13:00:34Breaking Down Benefits of Using Brilliant X-ray Light to Know Bio-based Materials: Workshop
Bio4Energy researchers and partners are laying the groundwork for making water filters and electrodes for energy storage devices, from residual biomass materials that are in excess.
The main product used in this project is activated carbon and the technology used for the transformation of biomass into biochar is pyrolysis. Biochar is a brittle and porous carbon-rich product with coal-like qualities, which is being studied and used in water purification and soil remediation.
The main product used in this project is activated carbon and the technology used for the transformation of biomass into biochar is pyrolysis.
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical technology, in which a biomass starting material is exposed to very high temperatures inside a closed reactor void of oxygen or almost. The idea is to arrive at a dry and porous product through thermal and chemical alteration; but without burning the biomass to ashes.
Drawing on funding from the European Union, via its Interreg Aurora programme—allowing EU and associate nations to come together in regional constellations to tackle issues jointly in areas such as environment, health, research and education or energy—Alejandro Grimm and Francesco Gentili are heading up a multi-stakeholder project.
Wider aim of reusing residual biomass materials that are in excess
While the aim is to make product prototypes for bio-based water filtration devices and electrodes, the project has a wider scope of investigating and finding environmentally sound uses for residual streams of biomass from the forestry industry, agriculture, biogas making and aquaculture. The latter part targets aquatic biomass such as macroalgae from the Baltic sea and microalgae used in the treatment of municipal sewage water.
“The idea is to use residues from forestry, the pulp and paper industry or aquaculture to use pyrolysis to purify water and to produce supercapacitors to create various applications”, according Gentili, researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). A capacitor is an electronic component that stores electric charge. The term supercapacitor signifies a capacitor that has superior power density.
“The idea is to use residues from forestry, the pulp and paper industry or aquaculture to use pyrolysis to purify water and to produce supercapacitors to create various applications”.
In certain cases, the recycling and reuse of biomass materials are performed in multiple stages. In one work package, the researchers have teamed up with regional utilities and a business operator; first to make biochar from biomass residues and manure and then adding the biochar in the retting mixture underpinning biogas production, thereby adding a needed source of carbon.
Bio-based graphite is a target product
In others, the aim is to identify suitable biomass residues for making alternatives to petrochemically-based product applications. One such example would be graphite, which is high in demand not least because of its use in smartphone batteries. Graphite is a soft, dark grey form of carbon; also used in pencils, machines and nuclear reactors.
“We are designing bio-based graphite that resembles the fossil [kind] but the synthesis process is environmentally friendly and the final product functions in just the same way as fossil one”, said Grimm, SLU researcher who leads a Nature Refines project within the larger Interreg Aurora scheme.
While there are various timelines for the latter, the Nature Refines project runs until autumn 2026. By then, the pair expects to have a prototype of a water filtration device to show that can wean wastewater of heavy metals using microalgae from Gentili’s algae development site at regional energy utility Umeå Energi.
“We can offer a filter of higher quality than those imported from China”, Grimm said, referring to water filtration products currently available in do-it-yourself hardware stores in Sweden.
“The idea is to make sure that we use residues that are qualitative and fit for purpose”, Gentili added.
Activated carbon (AC), also known as activated charcoal, is a rough, imperfectly structured kind of graphite. It has a wide spectrum of pores of varying sizes, from obvious fractures and fissures to molecular dimensions. Because of its significant surface area, AC is frequently used for a variety of purposes, including removing impurities from air and water. Small, low-volume pores that are present in AC enhance the surface area that is accessible for chemical reactions such as adsorption (which is different from absorption). Quoted source: Royal Society of Chemistry.
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/NatureRefines_15112424.jpg7201280Anna Stromhttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngAnna Strom2024-11-13 14:00:522024-11-29 13:31:09Water Filtration, Electrodes Expected from EU Project on Smart Use of Biomass Residue
Bio4Energy’s research team dedicated to creating applications from green algae have won funds to investigate the composition of cell walls in microalgae. These are microscopic algae that are not visible to the unaided eye, used to produce algal biomass for use in biotechnology applications.
Christiane Funk and students at Umeå University, Sweden hope to develop much needed information on the mechanisms that govern buildup and breakdown of the cell wall in these Chlorophyta algae, with the aim of allowing researchers worldwide more easily to design biotechnology applications that are cost and energy efficient.
The researchers aim to find out which enzymes are involved in making the cell wall mouldable and the way in which this plasticity enables – or could enable – the green algae to cope with environmental stressors. They also aim to map the transport of carbon, which is known to fluctuate, inside the cell.
With this knowledge in hand, they want to look into ways to manipulate the cell wall for better outcomes in the design of biotechnology applications.
“This proposal aims to address a critical gap in research, by investigating the biosynthesis and modification of the cell wall of Chlorophyta microalgae. We will gain insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the microalgal cell wall, its plasticity and perception of the environment”.
“Despite their promise as a sustainable feedstock for biotechnological applications, the use of microalgae has been hindered by high monetary and energy costs associated with the processing steps that follow cultivation, particularly the harvesting of algal biomass and extraction of valuable compounds”, Funk and colleagues wrote in their project application;
“This proposal aims to address this critical gap in research, by investigating the biosynthesis and modification of the cell wall of Chlorophyta microalgae. We will gain insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the microalgal cell wall, its plasticity and perception of the environment”.
Over the last decade, Bio4Energy’s research teams studying microalgae have worked diligently to lay a foundation for production, scale up and demonstration of algal biomass for use in consumer products and as an agent in water purification in industrial facilities.
The two teams focus on green and blue-green microalgae, respectively. Francesco Gentili and colleagues, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, run development facilities in collaboration with regional energy utility Umeå Energi, at Dåva just off Umeå, in northern Sweden.
Project title: Not Just Another Brick in the Wall – Advancing Microalgal Biotechnology through Cell Wall Research
Project leader: Christiane Funk, Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion Technologies – Affiliation with Umeå University
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/DIY-Photobioreactor_Funk_Ploehn.jpg15532500Anna Stromhttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngAnna Strom2024-11-04 16:35:302024-11-29 13:01:36Researchers to Map Composition of Green Algae, Pave Way for Biotechnology Breakthroughs
Bio4Energy experts at nanotechnology have been selected to receive an ‘Innovator of the Year’ award by their home organisation Luleå University of Technology, Sweden for their continued efforts to develop bio-based solutions for industry. The award motivation highlights the creation of medical and health care applications as a particularly successful avenue.
LTU pro vice-chancellor Charlotte Winberg will be handing over the award at the university’s Innovation Day 5 November.
“We are very happy about the award and will focus even more on innovations so that our research can benefit society”, researches Kristina Oksman and Linn Berglund wrote in a press release from LTU.
Moreover, a smart dressing for wound healing, made by turning woody residue into nanofibre networks that take the form of a transparent gel—complemented by an equally transparent film overlay—is in preclinical testing.
“What makes our innovations unique [are the fact] that they combine sustainability with versatility and functionality. We can tailor the biomaterials for different applications, making them useful in a variety of industries, from medicine to packaging”, associate professor Berglund said.
The List is published annually to indicate research innovations created at Swedish universities that could provide an economic and societal benefit, were they to be adopted by industry and commercialised.
Award motivation
“Oksman and Berglund’s work has great potential to contribute to societal benefits, particularly by reducing healthcare costs while also creating environmentally friendly alternatives for industry”, the press release said;
“Their bio-based solutions are not only energy-efficient to produce but can also replace oil-based materials, thereby reducing the use of fossil fuels and harmful chemicals”.
Recently, their Bionanocomposites’ research group has made bio-based films from woody residue after use as an underlying substance or layer for growing exotic mushrooms for human consumption. The mushrooms feed off this substrate layer to grow and break up the polymers of the wood during the while.
Recently, their Bionanocomposites’ research group has also made bio-based films from woody residue after use as an underlying substance or layer for growing exotic mushrooms for human consumption, in collaboration with Shaojun Xiong and colleagues at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
The mushrooms feed off this substrate layer to grow and break up the polymers of the wood during the while. This means that the researchers do not have to use chemicals to achieve their aim of breaking down the polymer lignin—the glue that binds together the main wood polymers cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin—since the mushroom carries out this service.
As part of the Bio4Energy research environment, Oksman and Berglund have gone from success to success. While Oksman was one of Bio4Energy’s founding research leaders, Berglund came in later as her student; rose through the ranks and never left since.
“Bio4Energy has been great for our research. We have had the freedom to invent new things. I do not think we could have done this without Bio4Energy”, Oksman told Bio4Energy Communications.
Contacts
Linn Berglund– Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion, affiliation with Luleå University of Technology
Kristiina Oksman – Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion, affiliation with Luleå University of Technology
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/LB_KO_241024-scaled-e1729785232991.jpg12801706Anna Stromhttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngAnna Strom2024-10-24 14:19:162024-12-01 18:16:38Innovator of Year Award to Bio4Energy Nanotechnology Experts
A grouping of Bio4Energy experts on systems analysis have won a large grant to map out new value chains for the production of biochar, a type of charcoal, for use in industry or as a carbon sink.
Biocarbon – with the application biochar, which is a form of biomass pre-treated in high temperatures and in a limited-oxygen environment – is being extensively investigated as an alternative to fossil coal in industrial processes, such as in the iron and steel industry.
However, with each major new replacement product comes the need to ascertain that it is sustainable in terms of economics, as well as social and environmental impacts; and that it can form or fit into the context it is in.
In the new project, PhD students will work together to map out a comprehensive scheme for value chains from raw material supply to industrial markets for this renewable technology.
In the new project, three new PhD students will work together to map out a comprehensive scheme for value chains from raw material supply to industrial markets for this renewable technology. They will perform their work from the Bio4Energy partner universities Luleå University of Technology and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), both located in northern Sweden.
In addition to new value chains for production, the project will deliver policy recommendations and create a pool of in depth knowledge about markets, tools for policy-making and technology.
In addition to new value chains for production, the project will deliver policy recommendations and create a pool of in depth knowledge about markets, tools for policy-making and technology.
“We are going to develop knowledge about raw material sources for biocarbon and inventory flows of biomass in Sweden”, said David Agar, senior lecturer at SLU.
“We will look at surplus sources in pulp and paper and saw dust, forestry residues…. It doesn’t mean that we have to stick only with the big industries. We could look at recycled products or waste”, Agar said.
When it came to the potential of biocarbon and biochar as an alternative technology to fossil fuels, Agar said that the project would map both potentials and limitations.
“You cannot expect to have exactly the same process. You have to have something to compensate for the high carbon content of fossil fuels. You have to have a very pure carbon source, with good heating properties”, he added.
Carbon source still needed despite electrification
While it is true that there is a sweeping electrification underway, there are still industrial processes that require either a fossil or alternative source of fuel or gas.
”In fossil fuel-free steel production the plan is to use electricity both in the process of direct reduction and in the electric arc furnace”, according to project leader Elisabeth Wetterlund, Luleå University of Technology (LTU).
Direct reduction is the removal of oxygen from iron ore or other iron bearing materials in the solid state, while an electric arc furnace is a type of furnace used in steelmaking to melt and refine steel scrap or other raw materials, transforming them into molten steel.
Professor Wetterlund explained that while both of these processes are powered by renewable electricity, the addition of a fossil or renewable carbon source is still required to complement the hydrogen that is used for the reduction.
“Despite the electrification we still need carbon to produce the kind of steel we want and create appropriate conditions inside the electric arc furnace. This is where biochar comes in, as a replacement for coal and coke-oven coke”, she wrote in reply to questions.
Contacts
Elisabeth Wetterlund – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with LTU
David Agar – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with SLU
Dan Bergström – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with SLU
Robert Lundmark – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, Affiliation with LTU
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/BiocarbonFutures_Coke-ovenCoke_DA281024.jpg7201280Anna Stromhttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngAnna Strom2024-10-22 15:22:562024-11-29 13:06:37Creation of Value Chains for Biochar as Alternative to Fossil Fuels in Industry in New Project
Development park Bioeconomy Arena opened today, at Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden.
It is a 2,400 square metre park for development of products and materials from bio-based input material, such as residue from forestry operations or bio-based waste from pulp and paper making.
Processum Biorefinery Cluster, Bio4Energy’s strategic collaboration partner, stands host to the Arena. It is part of an industrial development called Domsjoe Development Area. Its centre player Domsjö Fabriker is a full-scale biorefinery, owned by Aditya Birla Group of India.
“Sweden’s most interesting environment for development of bio-based products and materials is taking a large step forward. Together, we represent the entire value chain from research to industrial production”, said Emil Källström, CEO at SEKAB, a company in the Bio4Energy Industrial Network, based at the development area.
“Here large companies will meet tech companies in expansion and create new possibilities”, said RISE CEO Malin Frenning, referring to Bioeconomy Arena.
“The pilot hall… also has the potential to attract international firms that want to place new research units in the creative environment here”, Frenning said.
Bioeconomy Arena, Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
Three-story development park
Surface area of 2,405 square metres
Planned capacity for 130 – 150 test beds
Main technologies developed: Pulping, chemicals, carbon capture and storage, carbon capture and use, plus industrial biotechnology
Source: RISE Research Institutes of Sweden (press release). With special thanks to Frida Karlsson Niska, Head of Communication, Bioeconomy. The article also contains information collected by Bio4Energy Communications for previous news articles.
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/RISE-Bioeconomy-Arena_FN091024_ASed.png307409Anna Stromhttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngAnna Strom2024-10-14 12:00:002024-11-04 17:10:27Giant Park for Development of Bio-based Products, Materials, Opens in Northern Sweden
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