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

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Created: Wednesday, 12 January 2022 19:14

Written by Anna Strom

Researchers are starting a project to integrate SDG goals in forest management practices and advocating considering tree breeding as a tool in the adaptation to climate change. Photo by Anna Strom ©2022.An encompassing project is about to kick off with the aim to integrate the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in forest management and climate change adaptation in the boreal belt traversing Scandinavia and Latvia. The state-run Sweden's Innovation Agency Vinnova is set to fund the effort. 

The three-year project, the Swedish part of which is led by a Bio4Energy scientist, will investigate genetic tree breeding as a means to increase growth and resistance to pests and altered weather conditions of coniferous trees, while also exploring the avenue of mixing in broad-leaved trees in boreal forest plantations as a way of increasing the resilience of the forest ecosystem.

The volume growth of trees may be increased by one fifth, according to the research proposal, using advanced genetic tree breeding methods. This will also shorten a tree’s growth period to maturity, thus shortening the time between plantation and harvesting.

“The analyses [currently available] assessing sustainability goals have not acknowledged the impact of tree breeding and different regeneration methods on growth and resilience of forests and the quality of wood produced”, the proposal says;

“Effects of climate change on forests can be mitigated by tree breeding and optimal deployment, if most crucial changes in climate can be predicted and the genetic basis of adaptation to climate understood”.

Read more: Large Project on Integration of UN SDGs in Forest Management to Target Genetic Tree Breeding

Season Greetings from Bio4Energy

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Created: Wednesday, 22 December 2021 21:07

Written by Anna Strom

After a very cold start to winter in northern Sweden, Bio4Energy is gearing up for Christmas. We wish to greet you warmly. Photo by Anna Strom©2021.Dear follower,

It has been quite a year. You, we and most people have been feeling it.

At Bio4Energy, the management troika that took office early 2020 have been soldiering on to convince our partner universities and influential people in the bio-based sector, gathered as the Bio4Energy Advisory Board, that the research environment deserves to keep delivering world-class research and development on biorefinery from wood or organic waste beyond 2022. Next year is the last of Bio4Energy’s second five-year programme period funded by the Swedish government.

Luckily, the 200 and some Bio4Energy scientists and their advanced students have kept delivering results, some of which are featured in our last Newsletter of the year, Biofuel for Shipping, Aviation & Road Transport.

Moreover, Bio4Energy has added a Research Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who has been a great help in preparing facts and figures, not least about the contribution of and collaboration with industry partners in and with the research environment.  

So, from all of us, to all of you;

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Thank you for you loyalty. We hope for your continued support in 2022.

Bio4Energy Part of Nation-wide Effort to Develop Non-fossil Airplane Fuel

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Created: Tuesday, 07 December 2021 17:19

Written by Anna Strom

Bio4Energy scientists and members of its Industrial Network are part of Sweden's effort to develop non-fossil airplane fuel. Photo by Anna Strom©2021.This year has seen large-scale effort in Sweden to render possible the creation and development of non-fossil airplane fuel, so-called jet fuel, a press release from the state-run Swedish Energy Agency said. Bio4Energy is part of this effort, both through scientists and members of the Bio4Energy Industrial Network.

Experts at developing membranes for various industrial processes, are using the microporous solid material zeolite (ZSM-5, to be precise) as a catalyst in the production of bio-based hydrocarbon olefins or petrol from methanol. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., professor at Bio4Energy partner Luleå University of Technology (LTU) and colleagues are developing a process for making heavy hydrocarbons via the catalyst, without intermediate steps, according to a project description. 

Industrial and institute partners are Haldor Topsoe, RISE Innventia and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.

Meanwhile, the Municipality of Umeå and Biofuel Region, have teamed up to assess needs in terms of policy development and market support mechanisms for rolling out fossil-fuel free fuel use by airlines flying on northern Sweden.

The project will result in a roadmap for a transition to a sustainable airline industry in the northern part of the country, a project description said. Industrial partners are Swedavia, the company that operates Sweden’s ten busiest airports, along with the membership company RISE Processum and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.

Young Scientist Talks Show Bio4Energy Research Going Strong

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Created: Friday, 03 December 2021 16:40

Written by Anna Strom

About 50 Bio4Energy scientists met at Skellefteå, Sweden this week to trade notes on research and gear up for a possible extension of the mandate of the research environment from 1 January 2023.

Presentations by young researchers across the research and development (R&D) platforms, bear witness that Bio4Energy keeps delivering knowledge and applications at the forefront of biorefinery science.

As a service to our readers and followers, we publish their presentations for download, below.

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Attachments:

Ash Studies in Biomass Gasification	[Charlie Ma, Bio4Energy Thermochemical Conversion Technologies]	2131 kB
Biocatalytic Capture of Carbon Dioxide from Biogenic Emissions	[Io Antonopoulou, Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion Technologies]	1983 kB
Fundamental Studies of Mass Transport through Zeolite Membranes	[Mojtaba Nobandegani, Bio4Energy Chemical Catalysis and Separation Technologies]	3046 kB
Wastewater Reclamation and Biopolymer Production Using Nordic Microalgae	[Sanjeet Mehariya, Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion Technologies]	3151 kB
Bio4Energy: Who We Are and What We Do	[Leif Jönsson, Programme Manager]	3434 kB

Read more: Young Scientist Talks Show Bio4Energy Research Going Strong

Fresh Funds for Research Granted Bio4Energy Scientists by Formas Research Council

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Created: Thursday, 25 November 2021 19:11

Written by Anna Strom

New multiannual research projects have been granted Bio4Energy scientists to spur tree growth and purify water. Photo by AnnaStrom©2021.New research projects on bio-based carbon, sustainable energy, nitrogen use in aspen trees and a new system for water purification have just been granted Bio4Energy scientists by the funder Swedish Research Council Formas.

No less than four of Bio4Energy’s research and development platforms are involved in these multiannual research projects of excellence. The projects and project leaders are acknowledged as follows:

- Innovative carbon with low-level ash from sludge: Evaluation of their properties and function in technological and environmental applications (NOVACAR), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Bio4Energy Environment and Nutrient Recycling, Umeå University;

- Water, food security and environmentally friendly energy: The greatest challenges of our times, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Bio4Energy Feedstock Pre-processing, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences;

- Going towards better efficiency of nitrogen use in aspen trees, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstock, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and;

Project on Joint Biofuel, Mushroom Production Attracts Yet Another Innovation Award

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Created: Friday, 19 November 2021 18:49

Written by Anna Strom

Project owners Feng Chen, second from left, is next to Carlos Martín, Shaojun Xiong and Lars Atterhem at the Sustainable Innovations' Award ceremony. Photo by Andreas Palmén, SLU.Researchers at Bio4Energy have won yet another award for their groundbreaking project on joint production of edible mushroom and ethanol biofuel.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and student researcher Feng Chen this month accepted flowers, a diploma and a SEK50,000 (EUR4,954) cash award from the newly instated SLU Umeå and Sparbanksstiftelsen Norrland's Award for Sustainable Innovations.

It is the second time this year that the project on joint production of biofuel and mushroom is acknowledged for being an innovation with great potential for industrial commercialisation. In May it hit the so-called 100 List for Sweden-based research projects that have the potential to create value for industry in a “not-too-distant” future, hosted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Chinese lead researcher Xiong, affiliated with SLU Umeå, is the master mind behind the concept. 

Instead of having to rely on imports, he put forth to Bio4Energy and Swedish funding agencies, Sweden could become a net producer of its own protein-rich shiitake and oyster mushrooms, by having them grow on wood residue which is a plentiful resource in northern Sweden.

While growing, the mushroom would break down polymers in the wood in a way that rendered the extraction of cellulose for ethanol production easy, he said.

Read more: Project on Joint Biofuel, Mushroom Production Attracts Yet Another Innovation Award

Newly Discovered Compounds in Trees Carry Promise as High Value-added Products

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Created: Monday, 08 November 2021 18:25

Written by Anna Strom

Bio4EnergyBio4Energy scientists say that newly discovered lipophilic compounds in wood, once better understood, could be turned into organic wax for making candles, cosmetics or even anti-inflammatory drugs. Photo by Anna Strom©2021. researchers have found a set of compounds in the wood of trees that have “apparently been overlooked” until now, and which the scientists believe could find use as organic wax in cosmetics, candles or as agents in anti-inflammatory drugs. Not only this, but the discovery and mapping of these fat-loving substances might inform the pulp and paper industry on how to avoid problems with clogging of machinery in biorefineries.

The discovery by scientists at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), was unveiled last week as the prestigious Swedish Research Council announced it would fund a three-year effort to lay bare ways in which these lipophilic compounds, found in the cell walls of trees, behave and interact with other components of the wood and how to extract them.

In fact, the research team led by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. on Bio4Energy Forest-based Feedstock, will start from the contention that the newly discovered compounds are similar to an already known waxy substance mainly found in the cell walls of cork, called suberin.

“These novel compounds are partially insoluble and partially contained within the extractives—the compounds that can reach ten per cent of wood dry weight”, professor Mellerowicz explained in an e-mail message to Bio4Energy Communications.

Read more: Newly Discovered Compounds in Trees Carry Promise as High Value-added Products

Bio4Energy Creates Presence in Norway–New Professorship for PI with Biotechnology Focus

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Created: Monday, 25 October 2021 18:11

Written by Anna Strom

Bio4EnergyReady for new adventures: Researcher Carlos Martín Medina will take up a professorship in Norway, giving Bio4Energy its first presence there. Photo by Anna Strom©2021. is about to have its first solid presence in Norway, with researcher This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., native of Cuba, taking up a professorship in Biomass and Bioresources Utilisation at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences at Hamar.

Thanks to continued research funding, Martín will continue to advise a research group at Umeå University in Sweden, whose members belong to the platform Bio4Energy Biopolymers and Biochemical Conversion Technologies.

Notably, an encompassing project on biorefinery production from quinoa residues and capacity building for the bioeconomy; which is a collaboration with the Bolivian Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; will continue for at least another five years.

“It is kind of a dream [that I have] to be a bridge between the research communities of Sweden and Norway”, Martín told Bio4Energy Communications in an online interview. 

Taking up his new position, Martín will also start a new role as a member of a new European Union initiative to promote raw materials for biorefinery based on different types of organic waste.

Read more: Bio4Energy Creates Presence in Norway–New Professorship for PI with Biotechnology Focus