On 8–9 September, Bio4Energy’s Advisory Board gathered at the RISE facilities in Piteå for two days of exchange, reflection, and inspiration, this year with a focus on pyrolysis and gasification.
Following the traditional lunch-to-lunch format, the meeting opened with a series of presentations from participants, who shared recent progress and results from their respective fields of research and development.
In the afternoon, attention turned to practice. Linda Sandström and Fredrik Weiland from RISE gave presentations introducing the work at the facilities and then guided participants through the pilot units. The visit offered a close look at how biomass conversion technologies are developed and tested, and at the practical challenges of scaling them up for industrial use.
The first day ended on a warm note with dinner at Stadshotellet, where conversations continued in a relaxed setting. The following morning featured additional presentations and visits, including insights from Fredrik Granberg on RISE’s ongoing research.
Bio4Energy extends its warm thanks to the RISE Piteå team for hosting the meeting and for their generous support throughout the visit. As the meeting concluded, participants left Piteå with new insights and reflections to bring into future discussions.
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/20250909_101945-scaled.jpg11532560Irina Iakovlevahttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngIrina Iakovleva2025-10-20 11:09:512025-10-22 13:25:56Bio4Energy Advisory Board Meeting in Piteå
Doctoral research explores new links between energy, health and sustainability in rural Africa.
Access to clean and reliable energy remains a major challenge in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of families still use traditional and inefficient cookstoves, which pollute homes with smoke, cause respiratory illness, place heavy burdens on women who collect firewood, and contribute to environmental degradation. In his doctoral thesis at Umeå University, Natxo García-López examines how more sustainable bioenergy solutions can address these challenges.
His work combines laboratory studies, field experiments in Rwanda, systematic reviews, and a perspective study that explores new bioenergy approaches. The findings highlight the value of improved cookstoves, which burn more efficiently and reduce both emissions and health risks. Still, García-López’s research extends beyond stoves to integrated energy solutions. In his thesis, he broadens the perspective to the community level, examining how bioenergy can be scaled and integrated into broader frameworks of rural development and energy access. By integrating agroforestry with bioenergy, he outlines a system in which farmland serves more than its traditional role of producing food. Sustainably managed trees and crops can supply households with cleaner cooking fuel while also generating surplus biomass for electricity production through gasification. In this way, everyday cooking becomes directly connected to rural development, energy security and improved access to modern energy services.
“It’s a blueprint for scalable, community-level energy solutions,” he says.
The instrumental setup developed at Umeå University by García-López and colleagues to perform experimental work in rural Rwanda (left). Fuel preparation and quantification during field experiments (middle). An advanced cookstove, a forced-draft gasifier fueled with pellets, in operation in rural Rwanda (right). (All photos: Natxo García-López)
Fieldwork in Rwanda – challenging but rewarding
García-López and Sabine Ingabire at Kigali airport. (photo: Natxo García-López)
Conducting research in rural Rwanda was demanding, both logistically and scientifically. It involved traveling to remote areas, working with limited resources, and operating advanced instruments under difficult conditions. At the same time, it created opportunities to work closely with local communities and to collect data directly from rural households, offering valuable insights into their everyday challenges.
“Collecting data in these settings requires effort, infrastructure and experience. But it was also incredibly rewarding. It gave me a first-hand understanding of the challenges rural households face – and of how cleaner technologies can truly make a difference,” says García-López.
Beyond technology – a matter of people’s lives
Although the thesis devotes considerable attention to the technical analysis of combustion processes, emissions and particles, its implications reach far beyond engineering. It sheds light on the everyday realities of people in rural sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the lack of access to modern energy services such as clean cooking, electricity, and indoor air pollution. The findings also resonate with several pressing global challenges – from public health and gender equality to climate change and environmental sustainability.
“My findings are not only about energy systems. They also have implications for public health, gender equity and environmental sustainability. Cleaner cookstoves can make indoor environments safer, reduce the risk of disease, and ease the daily workload for women. At the same time, they help preserve forests and reduce climate emissions,”says García-López.
García-López during fieldwork in Rusagara village, Rwanda. Data collection with advanced instrumentation in rural settings comes along with many challenges.(photo: Sabine Ingabire)
Beyond the technical contributions, García-López hopes that his work can spark dialogue among decision-makers and practitioners. Its true impact will depend on how it is received by the research community, policymakers, Non-Governmental Organisations and other actors, but his ambition is that it will make a positive difference for people in rural sub-Saharan Africa who remain without access to modern energy services.
What’s next? Bridging disciplines for real impact
While the dissertation provides new evidence and technical insights, it also opens the door to future research directions. García-López sees his work not as an endpoint but as the beginning of a broader research journey, one that blends technological innovation with real-world application in countries with developing economies.
“Resource-intensive and complex, yes, but by building interdisciplinary projects in rural sub-Saharan Africa, we can achieve cleaner air, better health, and a more sustainable energy future,” he affirms.
The public defence is an open event, and all are welcome to attend. Why not take the opportunity to hear more about his work, and ask your own questions?
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/SAM_7072.jpg14082112Irina Iakovlevahttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngIrina Iakovleva2025-09-05 12:48:262025-09-10 10:02:26Cleaner cooking and sustainable bioenergy systems can strengthen energy security and improve health in sub-Saharan Africa
The past year clearly reflects the continued strength and activity within our research environment. In fact, 2024 stands out as a record year for collaboration, with more reported external partners than ever before. It also came close to setting a new record for the number of completed PhD dissertations – a clear testament to the drive, engagement, and research quality across our platforms.
As many of us now head into a well-deserved summer break, we are already looking forward to kicking off the autumn semester with renewed energy at the Bio4Energy Advisory Board meeting in Piteå in early September.
The Bio4Energy management and coordination team wishes all partners and colleagues a joyful Midsummer and a well-deserved summer break!
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG-20250619-WA0001-1.jpg20481540Irina Iakovlevahttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngIrina Iakovleva2025-06-19 13:11:222025-06-19 13:11:222024 Bio4Energy Annual Report Is Out
Bio4Energy researchers came together in Luleå on 26–27 May 2025 for the biannual Researchers’ Meeting, an occasion to share scientific insights, discuss future directions, and reinforce the strong collaborative spirit that defines the Bio4Energy research environment.
Dinner at Hotel Clarion Sense, where participants enjoyed great food and conversation in a relaxed setting.
Around 60 participants took part in the event, which began with a shared dinner at Hotel Clarion Sense. The informal setting offered an opportunity to reconnect across institutions and platforms. The following day, the formal programme featured presentations from Bio4Energy’s seven research platforms, highlighting recent progress in areas such as sustainable feedstocks, biorefinery development, life-cycle assessment, and industrial implementation.
The afternoon programme opened with a series of engaging presentations, showcasing selected projects supported through Bio4Energy’s strategic funds. The talks sparked several interesting questions from the audience. This was followed by a focused workshop session, where participants collaborated in small groups to develop cross-platform Theme Reports on topics of high societal relevance — including hydrogen, biochar, bioeconomy, and nutrient recirculation. These reports are intended to increase the visibility and societal impact of Bio4Energy’s work, by clearly demonstrating its relevance to policy, industry, and the public, particularly through outreach channels such as media and strategic dialogues with decision-makers.
The meeting served not only as a platform for knowledge exchange but also as a reminder of the importance of cross-platform collaboration in tackling the challenges of a sustainable industrial transition.
Bio4Energy would like to thank all participants for their valuable contributions, and all organisers involved in making this spring’s meeting a success.
Here some pictures from event:
Hannele Tuominen, SLUMikael Thyrel, SLUJonas Hedlund, LTULeif Jönsson, UMUElisabeth Wetterlund, LTUNils Skoglund, UMUThe visit was accompanied by fantastic spring weather, which contributed to a warm and welcoming atmosphere throughout the event.
https://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Lulea_hotel-Sense-scaled.jpg11532560Irina Iakovlevahttps://bio4energy.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Logo_stor_farg-300x74.pngIrina Iakovleva2025-06-10 12:19:322025-06-10 12:19:32Bio4Energy Gathers in Luleå to Strengthen Collaboration and Share Research Progress
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
Irina Iakovleva
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