bio-based materials – Bio4Energy

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.

The pair has successfully developed hydrogels from kelp seaweed that is being commercialised. 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.

The pair has successfully developed hydrogels from kelp seaweed that is being commercialised.

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.

Last year, professor Oksman and Berglund made the 100 List hosted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences for the invention of a sturdy composite material made from scrap textiles and plastic waste.

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 to be used 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 to be used 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

Related projects

Sustainable packaging materials from renewable raw materials sources – Bio4Energy

Revitalising forest waste into microalgal and bacterial cellulose membranes with tailored properties for sustainable food packaging, Green Tech – Bio4Energy

Relation of wood structure and chemistry to nanocellulose extraction and properties – Bio4Energy

Development of energy-efficient processing technology of wood biomass into nanofibres and biocomposites through the use of fungal pre-treated substrates, accessing the sustainability goals – Bio4Energy

Investigating the electrochemical functionality of Norway spruce bark biochar and polymer composites – Bio4Energy

Utilising the natural composition of industrial bio-based residues for efficient separation of functional nanofibers – Bio4Energy

Breakthrough Innovation: Hydrogels from Norwegian Kelp to Be Commercialised – Bio4Energy

Inventions by Bio4Energy Researchers Highlighted by Royal Academy for Future Potential – Bio4Energy

Bio4Energy’s core curriculum is contained in the courses of its Graduate School. The flagship training Biorefinery Pilot Research gives PhD students and postdoctoral fellows access to the unique park of pilot and demonstration facilities that line the coast of northeastern Sweden, when it comes to the production of advanced biofuels, “green” chemicals and bio-based materials.

Students construct and conduct their own projects to experience the innovation process hands on. First-hand access to professionals in industry and their peers allow for networking. Industry professionals are welcome to apply and to attend the course, to top up their knowledge with the latest in biorefinery development based on residues of woody biomass or organic waste.

A new edition of Biorefinery Pilot Research is scheduled for autumn 2024: End of August to October. First come, first serve!

Moreover, a much awaited new edition of Systems’ Perspectives on Biomass Resources will launch in autumn 2024. Students learn the basics of system analysis, by applying its principles on their own research projects. They also receive an overview of energy and sustainability issues on the global level, framed in the context of biorefinery development.

New course leaders as of November 2023 are Joakim Lundgren, Elisabeth Wetterlund and Andrea Toffolo; all three affiliated with Bio4Energy core partner Luleå University of Technology.

Finally, the new course History of Biorefining in Nordic Countries‘ paints the background of biorefinery development, as well as current trends and progress. Study visits and sessions on sustainability challenges alert students to the fact that we need to do better tomorrow to achieve circularity; efficient and effective production systems with low or no pollution escaping out into the environment.

Carmen Cristescu coordinates History of Biorefining, which just concluded in November this year, with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences at Umeå, as the hub for lectures and group assignments.

So say our students

PhD students Edouardo Arango-Durango and Mahsa Mehrara traveled from Luleå and the university there to attend the first-ever edition of the course.

“It has been amazing. I am from Colombia where forestry is different. Here [in Sweden] innovation is more advanced. It was an opportunity for me to learn”, Arango-Durango, Thermochemical Conversion, told Bio4Energy Communications at the end of lectures 27 October.

Standing beside him, Mehrara is part of Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy and, in her work, performs simulations to lay at the base of various research investigations.

“I joined because I wanted to know more about the background of my research. It is nice to know [what happens with] the feedstock in the real world”, she said.

“I liked the course, but it could be made more challenging”, Mehrara added.

For more information

Bio4Energy Graduate School