Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

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

13 November, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

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

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

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

4 November, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

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

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

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

Coke-oven coke. Tour of car maker Volvo's GTO Foundry at Skövde, Sweden in insert. Photos by courtesy of David Agar.

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

22 October, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

A grouping of Bio4Energy experts on systems analysis has 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.

They will do this by running a project within a national Graduate School of PhD students, coordinated from Linköping University (LiU), Sweden who will work together to lay bare both industrial and technology issues implicated, plus create policy recommendations and tools to implement them.

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.

“We are going to develop knowledge about raw material sources for biocarbon and inventory flows of biomass in Sweden”.

“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 the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Agar is one of four Bio4Energy research leaders involved.

“We will look at surplus sources from the forest industry, pulp and paper and sawmills…. It doesn’t mean that we have to stick only with the big industries. We could look at recycled products or waste”, he said.

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, according to the project description on the LiU website.

When it came to the potential of biocarbon and biochar as an alternative technology to fossil fuels, Agar said that the project would map out 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 value”, he added.

“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 value”.

Carbon source still needed in steelmaking, 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.

The national Graduate School in Energy Systems is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.

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

Related projects

Nitrogen in biochars from biomass residual streams – forms, fate and plant availability in soils – Bio4Energy

Bio2Char – Pre-feasibility study of new residual streams as feedstock for production of biochar for industrial applications – Bio4Energy

Doped biochar materials for bio-based batteries – in-situ characterisation and understanding of structural versus electrochemical properties, BioBat – Bio4Energy

Design of biochar from residual streams – influence of fuel and process parameters on biochar properties for water and soil applications – Bio4Energy

Paving the road for introducing renewable energy carriers in large industries – Bio4Energy

Improvement of LCA and economic methodology for upscaling biofuel and bio material production – Bio4Energy

Activated and non-activated biochars and hydrochars from forestry-related waste streams for removal of environmental contaminants from sediments – Bio4Energy

Increasing the use of renewable energy carriers in Swedish mineral processing industries – Bio4Energy

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

Role of Forests in Reining in Climate Change, Producing Energy – Bio4Energy

Martin Plöhn and Christiane Funk show green algae and sample plastic flakes in their research laboratory at Umeå University, Sweden. Photos by ©AnnaStrom.

©AnnaStrom

Large Project Granted for Making Affordable Bio-based Plastics, Using Algae as Feed

1 October, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

A consortium of Bio4Energy researchers has scored a grant for developing bio-based plastic to deliver prototypes of consumer products by project end, three years from now.

It involves a number of industrial and business partners who will provide either facilities and input material for experimental trials or develop consumer products, such as lampshade prototypes and a foam to go into packaging materials, respectively. The resulting products will be tested for their biodegradability.

It involves a number of industrial and business partners who will provide either facilities and input material for experimental trials or develop consumer products, such as lampshade prototypes and a foam to go into packaging materials, respectively. The resulting products will be tested for their biodegradability.

Global plastics production has exploded since the early 20th century and virtually all of it derives from fossil-based petrochemicals. In 2018, it stood at 359 million metric tons per annum.

At the end of life, over three fourths of plastics go into landfill. The breakdown of plastic made from petrochemicals generally takes hundreds of years and comes with leakage into the environment, especially for the kinds that degrade to microplastics during the composting process.

Plastic pollution has become an urgent global problem.

Innovation-to-consumer product value chain

In northern Sweden, Bio4Energy experts on the development and use of algae biomass for products and applications are proposing to tackle the issue head on by linking up actors in a research innovation-to-consumer product value chain.

The Swedish Energy Agency—which is not only a government agency, but also a research funder—has agreed to part sponsor the development of more affordable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), which is a type of bio polyester that has the moldability of traditional plastics.

So far, PHA as a plastic alternative has had limited uptake, mainly because of the high cost of the feed for bacteria that make it. Here is where the Bio4Energy research comes in.

The scientists will identify strains of microalgae which, using sunlight and carbon dioxide, make biomass that the bacteria like to eat. The algae themselves will feed off industrial flue gases and wastewater produced at premises of regional energy utility Umeå Energi, which the green algae help clean during the while.

The scientists will identify strains of microalgae which, using sunlight and carbon dioxide (CO₂), make biomass that the bacteria like to eat. The algae themselves will feed off industrial flue gases and wastewater produced at premises of regional energy utility Umeå Energi, which the green algae help clean during the while. The project also involves a utility that delivers drinking water, as well as handles sewage water treatment and waste recycling in the greater Umeå area; Vakin.

Algae research expert Christiane Funk will lead the project from Umeå University (UMU) and collaborate with Francesco Gentili, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), whose team operates development facilities at the Umeå Energi Dåva site. His colleague Carmen Cristescu will perform a life cycle assessment of the process. Bio4Energy programme manager Leif Jönsson’s group at UMU is also part of the project.

“We are going to use algae as feed for bacteria producing PHA, a type of bio polyester. The bacterial cultivation will be scaled up to litres by RISE Processum”, professor Funk said.

Membership company Processum at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden is one Bio4Energy’s strategic partners. Bio4Energy alumnus Pooja Dixit will lead this part of the work.

High cost of PHA limits market uptake

PHA as an alternative to petrochemical polymers for plastic production has had limited market uptake because of its high cost.

“It would be perfect to use PHA instead of plastic. We try to make it cheaper so that PHA can compete with fossil-based plastic and we also try to make the process more sustainable by using microalgae. We have to test which bacteria like which type of sugars [or carbohydrates] to produce PHA”, professor Funk said.

“It would be perfect to use PHA instead of plastic. We try to make it cheaper so that PHA can compete with fossil-based plastic and we also try to make the process more sustainable by using microalgae. We have to test which bacteria like which type of sugars to produce PHA”.

Downstream, two companies stand ready to turn the PHA into products.

In Stockholm, Interested Times Gang will take PHA from the project, to attempt 3D printing lampshades.

SME Cass Materials at Örnsköldsvik aim to mix the PHA with starch to improve an existing form of packing material in terms of its environmental footprint. The company describes the material as a “next generation bio-based foam that is lightweight with good mechanical strength and insulation properties for the packaging industry”.

Finally, Biocompost of Skellefteå is going to test the materials produced, particularly the ones that have a starch component, to see how long they take to biodegrade.

“We are going to work on the microalgae and the bacteria… and feed the carbohydrate to the bacteria in a two-step process”, Funk explained;

“We are going to test different algal strains [to ascertain] which produce the best feed for the bacteria”.

Globally, nine per cent of plastic waste is recycled and 12 per cent is incinerated. In countries that have ocean shorelines, each year between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste are discarded into the sea. Source: Encylopaedia Britannica.

Project title: Waste2Plastic – Circular economy, recycling of CO2, nitrogen, phosphorus and water for bioplastics in a sustainable society

Funders: Swedish Energy Agency’s strategic innovation program RE:Source, which focuses on developing circular and resource-efficient material flows that are within planetary “boundaries”. The joint contribution of industrial partners is expected to match the SEA grant.

Bio4Energy research leaders involved

Christiane Funk, project manager and Leif Jönsson – Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion, affiliation with Umeå University

Francesco Gentili – Bio4Energy Environment and Nutrient Recycling, affiliation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Carmen Cristescu – Bio4Energy Systems Analysis and Bioeconomy, affiliation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Lalie Kossatz and Pooja Dixit – Processum at RISE

Business partners: Umeå Energi, Vakin, Cass Materials, ITG Studio, Biocompost

Related projects

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

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

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

Bio4Energy

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

25 April, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

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

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

In his PhD thesis, researcher Martin Plöhn lays out a scheme for wastewater treatment using microalgae. Photos by Anna Strom and Umea University photographers.

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

20 March, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

A research report—covering five years of investigations—shows that microalgae grown in cold and dark conditions may not only be made to thrive on their own, but also remove the heavy metal content of industrial wastewater that conventional treatment plants do not filter out.

The high performing algal strain selected also turned out to produce ample carbohydrate biomass suitable for making bio-based plastics.

The academic research team behind the findings is based in northern Sweden; where winters are long, cold and dark. However, the cluster—including the research environment Bio4Energy and the MicroBioRefine project—have some of Scandinavia’s leading scientists in the field of developing biomass from blue-green algae as a renewable input material for making products.

The research report, by recent PhD graduate Martin Plöhn, will be released by Bio4Energy’s lead partner Umeå University as soon as details of its major findings have been cleared for publication in the chief biotechnology journal of a well-known publisher.

The researchers have identified a common and locally available strain, Chlorella vulgaris, as a top performer among microalgae when it comes to cleaning wastewater of cadmium, copper and lead. There was no additional source of energy or lighting added.

In a nutshell, the researchers have identified a common and locally available strain, Chlorella vulgaris, as a top performer among microalgae when it comes to cleaning wastewater of cadmium, copper and lead. The process has been tested in a research laboratory. There was no additional source of energy or lighting added to indoor room temperatures, daytime indoor (fluorescent) lighting and natural daylight.

Cleaning with microalgae after conventional wastewater treatment, to meet legal standards

Turned into a fully-fledged technology, the scheme would allow industries whose activities leave substantial amounts of wastewater in their wake, to shave the last one-to-two micrograms of heavy metals off wastewater already treated in a conventional treatment plant. The scheme comes with optional provisions for reuse in industry of the heavy metals thus recycled.

“Our microalgae can be used to treat wastewater to remove pollutants and produce freshwater…. We do not want to replace the conventional treatment system, but come in at the end and take away the heavy metal content that is still higher than the law”, doctor Plöhn told Bio4Energy Communications.

“Our microalgae can be used to remove pollutants and treat wastewater to produce freshwater… We do not want to replace the conventional treatment system, but come in at the end and take away the heavy metal content that is still higher than the law”.

In the second part of the microalgae project, Chlorella vulgaris again outperformed other strains tested when it came to producing polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a type of plastic, via bacterial breakdown of the biomass. The process has been tested in up to 25 litres of wastewater at a time, in a research laboratory.

Checking for unwanted emissions and scaling up

After successful proof of concept trials, the researchers have received expressions of interest for testing the concept on a larger scale from Bio4Energy partners at the RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. Plöhn and colleagues now are looking for industrial partners.

“We are looking for people who could be interested in the forest industry, with the message that we can add value… to existing processes”, he said.

The researchers collaborate with colleagues at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences to perform life-cycle assessment studies; to double check that their concept is sustainable in terms of minimising greenhouse gas emissions. Technically, the algae consume carbon dioxide down to net zero, but the researchers want to make sure that the system is water tight.

Dissertation in hand, Plöhn is not about to finish working on the project anytime soon. The microalgae also produce lipids and protein. Moreover there is the bio fertilizer route that remains to be explored.

“I see opportunities to explore this concept beyond carbohydrates. There will always be wastewater that needs to be treated. We need to use what we have right now”, he said.

Since late March Plöhn is a staff scientist at Umeå University and industry representatives are invited to contact him and the research team there for at least another nine months.

New for September 2024: News by NewsGram, Researchers aim to create biodegradable plastic – from algae (newsgram.com)

PhD Dissertation

Revealing the potential of Nordic microalgae — Turning waste streams into resources

Bio4Energy Contacts

Doctor Martin Plöhn — Affiliation with Umeå University

PhD Supervisor, Professor Christiane Funk — Affiliation with Umeå University

Related Projects

For more information

MicroBioRefine project

Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion

©AnnaStrom

Training on Wood Biology, Biotechnology Fills Gap for Advanced Students of Biorefinery

23 February, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

Mini FEATURE. Northern Sweden, last week was home to advanced students affiliated with universities in Finland, Czech Republic, Belgium and Sweden—spending an intensive week at the city of Umeå—to learn about the frontline of science of wood biology and biotechnology.

Hosted by a leading wood biologists, Ewa Mellerowicz of the Umeå Plant Science Centre and Bio4Energy, this ad-hoc training is offered for the second time to equip advanced students interested in wood biology, tree breeding and biorefinery development with an edge.

“This course fills a gap and provides an overview of biological processes, explaining how they lead to developing different kinds of wood, and how they affect wood traits of economic importance”, the online course description says:

“Lectures and seminars are given by world experts in the field”.

“This course fills a gap and provides an overview of biological processes, explaining how they lead to developing different kinds of wood, and how they affect wood traits of economic importance. Lectures and seminars are given by world experts in the field”.

When I stop by, the students are in full swing presenting posters to each other, a common feature both in advanced education and at scientific conferences.

“It is going great”, Hannele Tuominen, professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and platform leader in Bio4Energy, greets me.

“We have 20 students and here they learn to attack the issues we are discussing from every angle. We have a lineup of experts here to teach them [on location]. This is our strength”, Tuominen says.

“Most students have a molecular biology or wood chemistry background”, Mellerowicz fills in. She also has an affiliation with the Umeå branch of SLU. She agrees with a smile that it is great but exhausting;

“The students are here all week with a full programme in the daytime and then social activities in the evening”.

Most of them are much too busy liaising with each other to talk to me, but Bio4Energy student Anna Renström of Umeå University, is here just for the evening poster session.

“We have a new publication on wood formation in hybrid aspen that lets us know more about the lignin formation. Now we need to apply [the concept] to other species such as spruce and we need to conduct field trials to understand whether it really works”, she says expertly.

Renström is being supervised by Tuominen and others who are part of the teaching line up and I think to myself that it shows.

Contact

Ewa Mellerowicz, Umeå Plant Science Centre — Affiliation with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

For more information

Wood Biology and Biotechnology, 5 ECTS

Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstocks

Umeå Plant Science Centre

Bio4Energy

Seeing Possibilities: Meet Bio4Energy’s Coordinator for Swedish funder BioInnovation

1 February, 2024/in News/by Anna Strom

Bio4Energy’s new coordinator for BioInnovation, Swedish funder of bio-based innovations, is Ulrika Rova, professor at Luleå University of Technology.

Rova sees herself not only as the research environment’s representative with an overview of possibilities for applying for funds, but also as a facilitator and a bearer of information to potential collaboration partners representing other organisations in the bio-based sector.

“I need first to study the offer and future calls for projects, but then I can be a channel for information going both ways”, Rova told Bio4Energy Communications.

Structured as a member organisation, BioInnovation evaluates and funds a range of projects on behalf of the Swedish national funding agencies Vinnova, Formas and the Swedish Energy Agency. Bio4Energy is a founding member, or a “party”, and involved in its divisions on Materials, as well as Chemicals and Energy.

Structured as a member organisation, BioInnovation evaluates and funds a range of projects on behalf of the Swedish national funding agencies Vinnova, Formas and the Swedish Energy Agency. Bio4Energy is a founding member, or a “party”, and involved in its divisions on Materials, as well as Chemicals and Energy.

“Our vision is that Sweden will have transitioned to a circular economy by 2050. We are going to create optimal conditions for developing the Swedish bio-based sector and create sustainable solutions for a global market”, the Swedish version of BioInnovation’s website said (ed’s translation).

Two projects headed up by Bio4Energy research leaders stand out: Joint production of edible mushroom and advanced biofuel, as well as production of food-grade prebiotics from forest resources and sea squirts, a colonial tunicate.

The latter is a small sea-living invertebrate that has an outer protective cover; a tunic consisting of a cellulose-like substance; which is the target for developing prebiotics for human and animal consumption.

Rova led the prebiotics project. Given that Bio4Energy is a member since 2015, I want to know what might promote a more high-profile participation in BioInnovation-funded projects.

“The requirement of 50 per cent co-funding by proprietary users, that is an industrial partner, could be perceived as a challenge. As an [academic] researcher, you need to have a good contact network in industry”, Rova said.

“I will be participating the annual and biannual meetings and provide an overview of possibilities going both ways”, she said.

Professor Ulrika Rova is a veteran member of Bio4Energy. She served as deputy director of the research environment during its second five-year mandate, ending in 2019. Instrumental in developing education and training, she was the first head of the Bio4Energy Graduate School. She is a senior member of one of Bio4Energy’s research platforms, Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion. Her home organisation is Luleå University of Technology where she is part of a Paul Christakopoulos' research group specialising in biochemical process technology. In later years, the group has been focusing on carbon dioxide capture and reuse, as well as bioprocesses for upcycling of plastics and managing EU projects.

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Ulrika Rova, Bio4Energy Coordinator for BioInnovation — Affiliation with Luleå University of Technology

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Bio4Energy Board Member Receives Prestigious Botany Prize

8 December, 2023/in News/by Anna Strom

A member of the Board of Bio4Energy has won a prestigious prize for academic research efforts related to botany, which is the scientific study of the physiology, structure, genetics, ecology, distribution, classification and economic importance of plants.

Karin Ljung and her research team at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences try to lay bare the ways in which plant hormones—small substances regulating plant growth—control the formation of roots and coordinate the communication between plant tissues above and below ground.

Professor Ljung published more than 160 papers and had her work frequently mentioned by other scientists in their scientific articles. So much so that, since the year of 2014, she has kept making the Clarivate Analytics List of Highly Cited Researchers, according to a press release from her university.

The Roséns Linnaeus’ Prize in Botany and Zoology have been presented every third year since 1935, by the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund, Sweden. The recipients are Swedish researchers “deemed highly deserving”, the press release said.

Ljung received her prize at an award ceremony 2 December at Lund, Sweden.

AnnaStrom

Biomass Feedstock, PhD Education, Synchrotron Research in Focus at Bio4Energy Event

4 December, 2023/in News/by Anna Strom

The recent Bio4Energy Researchers’ Meeting, drawing together sixty of its researchers to meet at Umea in northern Sweden, is real-life example of the deliveries that Bio4Energy took on making as a Strategic Research Environment, appointed by the Swedish government.

Biomass input materials for making renewable fuels, chemicals and materials

The members of the Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstocks platform are designing trees that are better suited to resist challenging climatic conditions and to grow faster. Tree genes are studied in depth for the purpose of knowing how to enable an easy separation of the polymers in the wood matrix, for the production of advanced biofuels, “green” chemicals and bio-based materials. Four group leaders presented their latest research on wood engineering and characterisation, as well as resilience in times of climate change.

Education and training for advanced students: Tomorrow’s knowledge workers of the bioeconomy

Bio4Enegy’s core curriculum is contained in the courses of its Graduate School. Biorefinery Pilot Research gives students access to the unique park of pilot and demonstration facilities that line the coast of northeastern Sweden. 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.

The new History of Biorefining in Nordic Countries‘ training 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.

Course coordinator Francesco Gentili flagged that Biorefinery Pilot Research will be given in connection with the Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference at Örnsköldsvik in autumn 2024, while Carmen Cristescu outlined the outcomes of the first ever edition of History of Biorefining, which just concluded in November this year.

Shining bright like a Bio4Energy student

Eleven of them painted the gist of their bio-based projects in minutes-long talks and fleshed them out later on research project posters, which were the focus of discussion during mingling time. Three winners of Best Poster Presentation were selected by a jury composed of more senior Bio4Energy colleagues.

Nitrogen regulated wood formation, Anna Renström — Forest-based Feedstocks

Biopolymers from residues: A Comparative characterisation of Halomonas boliviensis PHB, Diego Miranda — Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion

What Makes a Tree a Tree?, Edouardo Soldado — Forest-based Feedstocks

Conference presentations

Forest feedstocks in the context of climate change, Sonali Ranade — Forest-based Feedstocks

Engineering of forest feedstocks for bioeconomy, Ewa Mellerowicz — Forest-based Feedstocks

Dark matter of the spruce genome, Peter Kindgren — Forest-based Feedstocks

Developments in forest feedstock characterisation, Gerhard Scheepers — Forest-based Feedstocks

Bio4Energy Graduate School: Biorefinery Pilot Research, Francesco Gentili — Enviroment and Nutrient Recycling

National infrastructure and synchrotron-related research, Nils Skoglund — Enviroment and Nutrient Recycling

Treesearch and Formax, Mikael Thyrel — Feedstock Pre-processing

Meeting programme

Tag Archive for: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

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

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

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

Training on Wood Biology, Biotechnology Fills Gap for Advanced Students of Biorefinery

Seeing Possibilities: Meet Bio4Energy’s Coordinator for Swedish funder BioInnovation

Bio4Energy Board Member Receives Prestigious Botany Prize

Biomass Feedstock, PhD Education, Synchrotron Research in Focus at Bio4Energy Event

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