Tag Archive for: Bio4Energy

Participants of the Nature Refines project on their way from Sweden to Finland, both of which Scandinavian countries are represented. Photos by courtesy of Francesco Gentili and Sarah Conrad.

Bio-based Water Filtration, Electrodes Expected Output of EU Project on Smart Use of Biomass Residue

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Bio4Energy researchers and partners are laying the groundwork for making water filtration devices and electrodes for energy storage devices, from residual biomass materials that are currently 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.

Project page: Nature Refines – Interreg Aurora

Project coordinator: Alejandro Grimm, Bio4Energy Feedstock Pre-processing – Affiliation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Project outreach: Francesco Gentili, Bio4Energy Environment and Nutrient Recycling – Affiliation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Collaboration partners

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, BioFuel Region, NOVIA University of Applied Sciences, Luleå University of Technology

Domsjö Fabriker, Envigas, RagnSells, SCA, Stormossen, Vakin

Natures Refines logotype.

Related Strategic Projects — Bio4Energy

  • Doped biochar materials for bio-based batteries – in situ characterisation and understanding of structural versus electrochemical properties, BioBat
  • Bio2Char — Pre-feasibility study of new residual streams as feedstock for production of biochar for industrial applications
  • Design of biochar from residual streams — influence of fuel and process parameters on biochar properties for water and soil applications
  • Electrochemical pyrolysis of spruce needles
  • Activated and non-activated biochars and hydrochars from forestry-related waste streams for removal of environmental contaminants from sediments
  • Investigating the electrochemical functionality of Norway spruce bark biochar and polymer composites
  • Increasing the use of renewable energy carriers in Swedish mineral processing industries

Related news

Creation of Value Chains for Biochar as Alternative to Fossil Fuels in Industrial Processes in New Project – Bio4Energy

Microalgae that Thrive in Cold Climate Clean Wastewater, Give Biomass for Renewable Plastics – Bio4Energy

Bio4Energy Partner LTU Part of ‘Largest Investment in Material Science in Sweden’ – Bio4Energy

Bio4Energy is Delivering Methods, Tools to Industry as Promised – Bio4Energy

New leader for Feedstock Pre-processing Eyes Critical Raw Materials as New Direction for Research – Bio4Energy

Innovation Award for R&D on Biogas Separation Technology to Bio4Energy Researcher – Bio4Energy

Phase Out of Fossil Coal in Sweden’s Iron, Steel Industries on Cards – Bio4Energy

A so-called photobioreactor with microalgal content, in the laboratories of Christiane Funk and Martin Plöhn, both Bio4Energy. Photo by courtesy of Plöhn and Funk.

Researchers to Map Composition of Green Algae, Paving Way for Biotechnology Breakthroughs

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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.

Last week, national funder Swedish Research Council – VR announced its decision to support a four-year project.

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

Duration: 2025 – 2028

Related projects

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

Circular and sustainable production of bioplastics with the help of photosynthetic microorganisms – Proof of concept – Bio4Energy

Waste2Plastic – Production of bioplastic from algal biomass generated from wastewater – Bio4Energy

Related news

Microalgae that Thrive in Cold Climate Clean Wastewater, Give Biomass for Renewable Plastics – Bio4Energy

Sweden’s Bioeconomy Arena to Open by Early 2025: Bio4Energy Researchers Stopped by – Bio4Energy

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

Linn Berglund and Kristiina Oksman share a smile in the hydrogel development laboratory, with kelp on display. Photo by courtesy of Kristiina Oksman.

Bio4Energy Nanotechnology Experts Win Innovator of Year Award

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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

Related news

New Stride in Wound Healing Expected, as Researchers Add New Material for Medical Dressings – Bio4Energy

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

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

Overlay to medical dressing made from woody nanofibre networks. Nanofibre base gel in left-bottom corner. Images by courtesy of Linn Berglund. Collage by Anna Strom.

New Stride in Wound Healing Expected, as Researchers Add New Material for Medical Dressings

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On the back of successfully introducing sea kelp as a base material for hydrogels used in wound healing—and selling the rights to Norwegian firm Alginor ASA—Bio4Energy researchers are back with a deep-dive into making medical dressings for complex or chronic wounds. This time, the base material will be made from woody residues from trees.

Linn Berglund of Luleå University of Technology received a grant from national trade union Swedish Forest Industries, official voice of the sector, to place woody residues as the base material of choice in the treatment of wounds that require a certain level moisture to heal, but need to be rid of excess liquid formed at various stages of the healing process.

Based on a series of pre-studies, she will be using nanotechnology to make networks of wood fibres that hold just the right amount of moisture at the base of the dressing, which will have a transparent overlay.

“We are moving one step closer to the perfect wound dressing. We already have promising results with dressings that take up a lot of excess liquid in moist environments”.

“We are moving one step closer [to the perfect wound dressing]. We already have promising results with dressings that take up a lot of excess liquid in moist environments”, according to Berglund, researcher and long-standing member of Bio4Energy’s team of experts at nanotechnology.

“When it comes to burns for example, the liquid should be transported away, not closed in”, she added.

The efficacy of the nanofibre network, together with the transparent top part, should allow for the healing to be monitored without the need for frequent changes of the dressing.

“The transparency of the material creates unique possibilities”, Berglund told Bio4Energy Communications.

The project will run at least until the end of next year. By that time, the researchers expect to know more about the way in which the dressing materials react at various degrees of swelling due to liquid retention. We are talking about characterisation down to nano scale.

“We are going to use atomic force microscopy [coupled with] trials enabled by new equipment for rheology measurements”.

Atomic Force Microscopy is a very-high-resolution type of scanning probe technique, with resolutions in the order of fractions of a nanometre, according to Wikipedia. 

Other legs of the set up include life cycle assessment studies to check the environmental impacts; not only of the wound dressing at the end of life, but also of the production. Moreover expensive chemicals are used in the production. The researchers are going to look for ways to reduce the chemical input while obtaining similar results.

The grant is part of a Young Researchers Award, awarded in spring of this year, with funding from a Gunnar Sundblad Foundation.

For more information

Young Researchers Award (Page in Swedish)

Swedish Forest Industries

Contact

Linn Berglund, Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion Technologies

Related News

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

Related projects

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

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

Trees play a vital role in maintaining the health of our planet and supporting human life in various ways. To use them as an economic resource, we advocate finding ways that will sustain both us and nature. Photo by AnnaStrom ©2024.©AnnaStrom

Bio4Energy 2023: Full Steam Ahead in Education, Research, Forming Collaborations

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With the effects of the pandemic largely behind in northern Europe and Scandinavia, 2023 was a year of full steam ahead for the research environment Bio4Energy. This applied to the production of scientific research results, as well as education and training. It was also a year in which new collaborations and partnerships were formed.

This is the message of the 2023 Bio4Energy Annual Report, issued this month. It also says that the seven research platforms, which deliver scientific methods and tools for developing advanced biofuels, “green” chemicals and bio-based materials; had more collaboration amongst themselves than before.

Nine so-called Strategic Projects were granted on this basis of cross platform and cross-organisation cooperation. Four of them have just been listed on the Bio4Energy website.

With the effects of the pandemic largely behind in Bio4Energy’s northern European region, 2023 was a year of full steam ahead for the research environment. This applied to the production of scientific research results, as well as education and training.

Both scientific researchers and communications actively developed external collaborations. Once again, Bio4Energy helped promote the annual Advanced Biofuels Conference, which had a focus on renewable transport fuel for the maritime and airline industries.

As part of the core curriculum of the Bio4Energy Graduate School on the Innovative Use of Biomass, the team behind it launched a new course on the history of biorefining in Nordic countries, which received good reviews by students and professors in its first round.

It has a focus on the Nordic countries; Sweden, Finland and Norway. This is not only because the Bio4Energy research environment is based here, but also because of their historic importance as a hub for forestry adapted to the geological and climatic conditions of the boreal belt. Examples from Canada are an important part, because of the development of its biorefinery sector that has unfolded in parallel and partly on the same latitudes.

News in the form of popular sciences attracted attention, notably in the areas of industry – academy collaboration to lay the foundation for “green” steel making, which is expected to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from iron and steel making industries.

So did news articles on the commercialisation of bio-based hydrogels, which are slated for use in wound healing and advances in improving bio-based input materials for biorefinery production, notably wood or woody residues from trees.

A comprehensive round-up of the chemistry involved in biorefinery processes had many views, as did news on Bio4Energy’s new representative in Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), which latter props up the industrial Circular Bio-based Joint Undertaking (CBE JU). It is a partnership between BIC and the European Union.

For more information

Bio4Energy Annual Report 2023 — Download Materials

Strategic Research Projects — Bio4Energy Projects

Bio4Energy

September Start for Bio4Energy’s Training to Scale up Bio-based Innovations

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Bio4Energy’s training on the scale up of bio-based innovations is starting again in September. The application is open as of today.

The backdrop is substantial new investments in test beds and development facilities in the region of northern Sweden where the research environment is based.

“We will go onsite visiting not only pilot [installations] of different types, but whole factories in our network of actors based along the coast at Örnsköldsvik, Piteå and Umeå.

“We will see this great variation and speak to the developers themselves”, said course coordinator Francesco Gentili.

“We will go onsite visiting not only pilot installations of different types, but whole factories in our network of actors based along the coast at Örnsköldsvik, Piteå and Umeå. We will see this great variation and speak to the developers themselves”.

He is not only an associate professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, but also the man behind facilities for microalgae research and development run in collaboration with regional energy utility Umeå Energi.

Biorefinery Pilot Research, as the course is called, is the flagship of the Bio4Energy Graduate School on the Innovative Use of Biomass.

Bio4Energy draws together the regions foremost universities and institutes dealing with the development of methods and tools for conducting biorefinery based on woody residues and industrial organic waste. As such, it is on a mission to provide education and training to help provide the sector with knowledge workers of tomorrow’s bioeconomy and advanced students with top-of-the-line education.

The course is offered as a mixture of intensive days of onsite visits—starting 2-4 September at Piteå—with time in between where students work to develop their own projects. They do this either by implementing an aspect of upscaling in their own PhD project or; if they are postdoctoral fellows established as researchers; they may create something new.

“We speak to and learn from capable fundamental researchers, all the way up to industrialists”.

“We speak to [and learn from] capable fundamental researchers, all the way up to industrialists”, Gentili told Bio4Energy Communications.

The group goes on study visits to well-known companies in the sector such as SunPine and the large pilot LTU Green Fuels at Piteå, as well as their institute partner in Bio4Energy, RISE Energy Technology Center.

Further south, at Örnsköldsvik, key contacts in the Bio4Energy Industrial Network will show them the new RISE Bioeconomy Arena, Domsjö Fabriker, SEKAB and RISE Processum. At Umeå, finally, Gentili will showcase the algae pilot and include a tour of Arevo, which has gone from being a Bio4Energy researcher upstart to a full-grown company offering a new kind of plant nutrition product that does not create toxic leakage, while being highly efficient.

“We stay, eat and study together and it creates the opportunity for networking”, Gentili said, adding a reflection on the bigger picture;

“It creates job opportunities. We train people to know the infrastructure and strengthen the collaboration in our region”.

Contacts

Francesco Gentili — Course coordinator Biorefinery Pilot Research

Dimitris Athanassiadis — Coordinator for the Bio4Energy Graduate School

Bio4Energy Graduate School

Biorefinery Pilot Research, 5 ECTS

Course Brochure and Application

Related News

Bio4Energy Graduate School: Development of Biorefinery Innovations Up Next

New Coordinator for Graduate School: Course Starts in 2024

Spin-off Wins Prize for ‘Great Potential’ of Plant Nutrition Products with Minimal Footprint

RISE to Invest SEK350 Million in Its Biorefinery Test Bed Environments

Senior lecturer and instrumentation expert Fredrik Forsberg, at Luleå University of Technology Geolab in 2022. Photo by courtesy of Fredrik Forsberg.

Bio4Energy Partner LTU Part of ‘Largest Investment in Material Science in Sweden’

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A Swedish funder of research in the bio-based sector has announced the largest investment ever in the northern European country in terms of sustainable material science, and notably in infrastructure to advance it.

Bio4Energy partner Luleå University of Technology (LTU) is one of seven research universities to benefit, having won a hefty SEK52 million (€4.6 million) grant to fund instrumentation that will allow researchers quickly to measure various material reactions to flow, pressure or load and to variations in climate.

“The equipment will be unique in Sweden. We are right here in northern Sweden where the large industrial investments towards the green transition are located”, said Fredrik Forsberg, Bio4Energy expert at fluid and experimental mechanics at LTU.

“We are going to build a strong node for material science research; focusing on minerals, metals and hydrogen; all of which are essential raw materials in this transition”, Forsberg added.

“We are going to build a strong node for material science research; focusing on minerals, metals and hydrogen; all of which are essential raw materials in this transition”.

The vision of the Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability (WISE), where the seven universities are members, is to “enable sustainable technologies with positive impact on our society by understanding, creating and controlling complex materials”, according to its homepage.

It is the single largest investment in material research in Sweden—the share going to LTU is one tenth of the total—and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation is behind it.

In the case of LTU, the grant monies will be invested both in infrastructure at the university and at the southern Sweden-based synchrotron Max IV Laboratory; where beamlines for very advanced X-ray-based research is available for scientists from all over the world.

“We expect to start using the new equipment a year from now. It will be available to all WISE researchers and for all in joint projects regarding sustainability issues”, Forsberg said.

From the presentation late 2019 of its Green Deal, the European Union started referring to the “green transition” as being a bridge in time to meeting goals in terms of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and arresting environmental degradation.

Advanced Characterisation Techniques at the Luleå Material Imaging and Analysis Facility (WISE ACT @LUMIA) at Luleå University of Technology include high-resolution 3D X-ray imaging (dynamic/high-energy/spectral XCT) and precision milling (laser ablation FIB) coupled with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The platform offers excellent capabilities for analysis related to the new technologies emerging in northern Sweden, the hotspot for the green transition. Key research areas, in close collaboration with leading industry, include fossil-free steel, carbon dioxide and hydrogen storage, sustainable batteries, extraction of critical raw materials, and additive manufacturing. 
From WISE Technology Platforms, wise-materials.org

Contact

Fredrik Forsberg — Affiliation with Luleå University of Technology

New as of 5 February 2024: Scientific article

Advanced materials provide solutions towards a sustainable world, Nature Materials 17, 1052–1053.

For more information

Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability (WISE)

WISE at Luleå University of Technology (LTU)

Luleå Material Imaging and Analysis Facility

Bio4Energy Thermochemical Conversion

A snap from a boreal forest in northern Sweden. Photo by Anna Strom ©2022.©AnnaStrom

New Monies for Research to Bio4Energy Scientists from Swedish National Funders

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A number of Bio4Energy research leaders have won funds in this year’s round of grants from the prestigious Swedish Research Council VR.

VR made its announcement this month, unveiling multi-million Swedish kronor grants to fund scientific research projects in its category for Natural and Engineering Sciences.

The projects and their participants are listed, as follows.

  • 2ndUpChance: A second chance for Upcycling of Microplastics, Paul Christakopoulos, Luleå University of Technology – Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion. LTU co-applicants are Kerstin Ramser, Suman Bajracharya, Alok Kumar Patel, Leonidas Matsakas and Ulrika Rova.
  • To Grow or to Defend? Deciphering defence—growth strategies in pine and spruce under local light conditions in Sweden, Rosario García-Gil, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences – Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstocks. Co-applicants are Malin Elfstrand and Sonali Sachin Ranade, both SLU.
  • Fundamental Understanding of Diffusion in Zeolites, Jonas Hedlund, Luleå University of Technology – Bio4Energy Catalysis and Separation. Co-applicants are Liang Yu, LTU and Igor Zozoulenko, Linköping University.
  • Molecular Control of Carbon Storage in Trees, Totte Nittylä, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences – Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstocks
  • Heat and Mass Transfer of Reactive Porous Particles, Kentaro Umeki, Luleå University of Technology – Bio4Energy Thermochemical Conversion. Co-applicant Nils Erland Haugen has a double affiliation to LTU and to SINTEF Energy, respectively.
  • Evolution of Characteristics in Layers of Bed Particles: For next generation of thermal conversion processes for biomass in fluidised beds, Marcus Öhman, Luleå University of Technology – Bio4Energy Thermochemical Conversion. LTU co-applicant is Fredrik Forsberg.
  • Decoding of the Role of Lignin Chemistry for Plant Growth, Development and Resistance to Drought, Edouard Pesquet, Stockholm University – Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstocks. Co-applicant is Tanja Slotte, SU.

The latter recipient also scored a multiannual grant for his research proposal to Formas Research Council, which announced the outcome of its Annual Open Call around the same time.

3DWOOD—Printable Wood as an Alternative to Plastic: A composite wood material with new characteristics made from stem cell cultures and glued together with natural lignin, Edouard Pesquet, Stockholm University – Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstocks. Co-applicant is Aji Mathew, SU.

Related News

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

Bio4Energy Researcher Awarded Medal for ‘Exceptional Contribution’ – Bio4Energy

Three-year Project Could Set Steelmaker Well on Way to Hydrogen-based Operations – Bio4Energy

Plants Adapt their Lignin Using Chemical ‘Encoding’ Enzymes, New Report Suggests – Bio4Energy

Innovation Award for R&D on Biogas Separation Technology to Bio4Energy Researcher – Bio4Energy

Polymer Lignin May Be Modified for Drought Resistance in Plants – Bio4Energy

Phase Out of Fossil Coal in Sweden’s Iron, Steel Industries on Cards – Bio4Energy

Large Project on Integration of UN SDGs in Forest Management to Target Genetic Tree Breeding – Bio4Energy

The timber we take out of forests should go toward constructing houses and furniture. Biorefinery is based on residues. Photo by Bent Christensen.Umea University

‘Getting Prepared to Have Right Material Base’: Chemistry in Biorefinery in New Report

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As economies are moving closer to a substantial fossil fuel phase-out, the need increases for a total overview of what the bio-based sector can bring to the table to replace it.

Bio4Energy researcher Carlos Martín Medina, Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion, has spearheaded one such initiative giving an overview of how far we have come in terms of knowing the chemistry of the processes in factories where biofuels, “green” chemicals or bio-based materials are made: Biorefineries.

Together with colleagues from Spain and Italy, he has drawn together the latest advice from a range of international scientists on the Chemistry in Biorefineries and what substantial issues remain, in a new report.

“We are all concerned about [the consequences of using] fossil fuels. We need a clear idea of the post-petroleum era. We are getting prepared to have the right material base”, Martín told Bio4Energy Communications in an interview.

“What we are contributing with here is a representative overview of recent updates of known issues in biorefineries. These are novel contributions by first line scientists”, Martín said.

The Cuban native is one of Bio4Energy’s truly international PIs, bridging a position between Umeå University, Sweden and the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway.

“What we are contributing with here is a representative overview of recent updates of known issues in biorefineries. These are novel contributions by first line scientists”.

As always when it comes to making commodities—even such that people will want to consume in the future—ventures have to be economically viable, as well as socially and environmentally sustainable.

“It is important to know the chemistry of [every] single process to be able to optimise and achieve higher yields and purity, and to avoid side reactions. In a biorefinery the first goal is to separate the three main components of biomass in the best way possible, so that each can be directed to different end products”, Martín explained.

Such products could be ethanol made from cellulose or resins made from lignin, he said. Although different input biomass materials are in focus in different parts of the world, the lesson contained in the themed collection of articles just out, in many cases are the same.

Is there enough biomass?

Martin’s answer to the question as to whether there is enough biomass for biorefinery production to make a substantial contribution in the post-petroleum era is a resounding “Yes.

“There are many different sources of residual plant biomass: Crop residues, forest residues, wood processing residues.

“Wood should mainly go into building materials and furniture manufacturing. We don’t want to clear out forests, [but instead] take advantage of materials that are not exploited today”.

The research environment Bio4Energy makes methods and tools for conducting biorefinery—a refinery based on biomass residues from various sectors to produce renewable fuel, materials and chemicals.  

For more information

Chemistry in Biorefineries is a themed collection of articles, published in an Advances journal by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

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Carlos Martín Medina, Alejandro Rodríguez and Fabio Montagnaro

PhD students at a Bio4Energy event. Photo by ©AnnaStrom.©AnnaStrom

2022 Bio4Energy Annual Report Is Out

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The 2022 Bio4Energy Annual Report is out, breathing optimism and comeback after the years with the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

It tells the tale of launching a new website for the research environment and of rising numbers of PhD defenses passed. PhDs in this context are advanced students in Bio4Energy’s sector of biorefinery and bioenergy based on wood or organic waste. Their work is at the heart of Bio4Energy’s contribution to advancing science.

As is custom, each of Bio4Energy’s seven research platforms has its own page. Here its members’ progress is detailed over the year and the platform’s reason for being described. Two new platforms leaders stepped into their roles in 2022 and are pictured.

Important news developments are described in the media and outreach section, followed by awards and special commissions.

All 11 members of the Bio4Energy Advisory Board are pictured. They serve as a link to industry and give advice to the Bio4Energy Board and programme managers.