Happy Summer from Bio4Energy

Details

Created: Wednesday, 01 August 2018 16:18

Written by Anna Strom

Delsjon, Gothenburg in July. Photo by Anna Strom©2018.Bio4Energy wants to greet its researchers and partners—including the Industrial Network and stakeholders to the bio-based sector—and bid them happy summer. Or happy winter, if you are in the Southern Hemisphere. Thank you very much for your commitment.

Most of the Bio4Energy people are having a break until September, but not all.

August start for popular course on biorefinery pilots

Late August, Bio4Energy will be kicking off the third edition of its popular course for PhD and postdoctoral researchers: Biorefinery Pilot Research. It is one of two generic courses in the Bio4Energy Graduate School on the Innovative Use of Biomass.

What

The idea behind Biorefinery Pilot Research is to give students from the graduate level and up an overview of the pilot and demonstration facilities lining the coast of Sweden to the north and east. Those who take the course for credit will have the opportunity to apply what they learned to their own research. For instance, you may want to design a project where you scale up or scale down the technology you are working on, or to place it in the larger context of biorefinery development using wood or organic waste as a starting material. You will learn about tools for developing an innovation in the bio-based sector.

When

A first block of course starts 27 August 2018 at Piteå, Sweden, and the deadline for registration is 10 August. For more details go to the Biorefinery Pilot Research course page or view the course brochure (attached).

For Whom

• PhD and postdoctoral researchers interested in biorefinery from wood or organic waste.
• Industry representatives or members of the bio-based sectors wishing to gain or deepen their knowledge of bio-based innovation and pilot and demonstration facilities in northern Sweden designed for the purpose.

Attachments:

Biorefinery Pilot Research Course Brochure 2018

[ ]

1028 kB

Biomass Conversion to Fuels, Life-cycle Assessment Discussed at Piteå

Details

Created: Thursday, 24 May 2018 15:52

Written by Anna Strom

1/9 

   

Attachments:

Alkali Catalysed Gasification – Albert Bach Oller	[ ]	1172 kB
Bio4Energy Traits Database – Access and Use – Sven-Olof Lundqvist	[ ]	898 kB
Biorefinery Pilot Research: Course Updates – Francesco Gentili	[ ]	419 kB
Camera and Laser-based Diagnostics for Entrained-flow Gasifiers – Yngve Ögren	[ ]	748 kB
Preparation of Modified Cellulose Nanofiber CO2 Absorbents – Jiayuan Wei	[ ]	1461 kB
Developments in Entrained-flow Gasification of Biomass - Rikard Gebart	[ ]	2461 kB
Household Bioenergy with Alternative Biomass Technologies – Ricardo Carvalho	[ ]	2122 kB
Life Cycle Analysis of Bio-based Processes and Products – Kavitha Shanmugam	[ ]	783 kB
Lytic Polysaccharide MonoOxygenases - Madhu Nair Muraleedharan	[ ]	995 kB
Synchrotron Research for Bio4Energy Researchers – Nils Skoglund & Mikael Thyrel	[ ]	2328 kB

TV4 Nyheterna: Snart är bensinen grön

Details

Created: Friday, 04 May 2018 13:26

Written by Christina Arneback, TV4 Nyheterna

'Green' Hyrdrocarbons Will be Turned into Fossil-free Fuels - Audio

Details

Created: Friday, 23 March 2018 14:15

Written by Anna Strom

Bio4Energy Researchers Launch New Technology for Making 'Green' Hydrocarbons

Details

Created: Wednesday, 14 February 2018 18:43

Written by Anna Strom

Bio4Energy researchers built a pilot unit to demonstrate a new technology for making 'green' hydrocarbons that has the capacity to deliver 2.5 litres of biofuel per day. Photo by William Siljebo, Bio4Energy© 2018.Bio4Energy researchers and partners have placed on the market a new technology for making ”green” hydrocarbons—bio-based equivalents of fossil petrol, diesel and jet fuel—and which process can be operated within the space of a standard shipping container, by non-experts having received basic use instructions.

Despite its novelty—the World Intellectual Property Organisation granted the required patents in summer 2017—the technology based on catalysis and thermal conversion of biomass has attracted the attention of the German exchange in Stuttgart and been acknowledged at an event last month in Stockholm, designed to showcase business development in northern Sweden.

“This is a disruptive technology. It does not have to be constructed on the scale of a [commercial] biorefinery. This application could be operated on behalf of a petrol station or a village”, according to lead researcher This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., professor at Umeå University.

“Because the process also renders liquefied petroleum gas, which can be used in gas-to-power engines, it may be used to produce electricity. According to a rough estimate, one [container-size process] could supply 100 households in India with electrical power”, said Mikkola, who is a leading figure on the platform Bio4Energy Chemical Catalysis and Separation Technologies.

Currently, the technology takes the form of a process unit that can make 2.5 litres of biofuel per day. A container-scale unit would make up to 250 litres. Depending on the raw material and the process parameters chosen, the technology will produce renewable hydrocarbons with the same chemical structure as its petrochemical counterparts, from bio-based alcohols such as ethanol, butanol or isobutene made from forestry residues or other types of biomass. A further product of the process is purified water.

As such, the invention could be shipped almost anywhere in the world.

However, the partners—united in the Skellefteå-based company Eco Oil—are planning for the construction of a first commercial-scale production plant. Or, in fact, two: One for petrol and one for diesel, both classified as being 100 per cent biofuels.

Read more: Bio4Energy Researchers Launch New Technology for Making 'Green' Hydrocarbons

In Search of Perfect Biomass Pellets: KSLA Award to Bio4Energy Researcher for Tackling ‘Critical Pitfalls’ in Production Process

Details

Created: Thursday, 01 February 2018 15:19

Written by Anna Strom

Sunday, Bio4Energy researcher Magnus Rudolfsson received one of two 2018 KSLA Best PhD Thesis Award, from the Swedish marshal of the realm Svante Lindqvist. Photo by courtesy of KSLA.Just as the European Union institutions are nearing a crescendo in their debate about the use of forest biomass for energy, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) seems to send a message in support for smart bioenergy in its 2018 Award for Best PhD Thesis.

Characterisation and Densification of Carbonised Lignocellulosic Biomass, published in 2016 by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences at Umeå, is about just that. It investigates whether biomass from forestry residues or willow that has been pre-treated by various degrees of roasting, or torrefaction, can be turned into qualitative pellets.

A good quality pellet—for subsequent use as fuel in combined heat and power production or biomass gasification to fuels and chemicals—is energy dense and easy to store and handle. And thesis author This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Bio4Energy researcher, has found that it is possible.

However, he told Bio4Energy Communications, the process requires greater fine-tuning compared with pellet making based on untreated sawdust, which is usually the basis for making so-called white pellets.

“We have seen that it works, yes. The next step is the creation of a market for torrefied pellets. The problems related to the pelletisation process itself can be solved”, Rudolfsson said.

Read more: In Search of Perfect Biomass Pellets: KSLA Award to Bio4Energy Researcher for Tackling ‘Critical...

'Natural' Choice of New Leader for Bio4Energy Wood Pre-processing

Details

Created: Friday, 12 January 2018 18:01

Written by Anna Strom

Sylvia Larsson is a new leader for the research and development platform Bio4Energy Wood Pre-processing. She is pictured together with her platform colleagues Torbjörn Lestander (left) and Mikael Thyrel. Photo by Bio4Energy.Bio4Energy Wood Pre-processing has a new leader. As of 2018, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) at Umeå takes over the reins of Bio4Energy’s smallest research and development platform. Already an established research leader in Bio4Energy and head of the pilot facilities at the SLU Biomass Technology Centre (BTC), she is the management’s and the previous platform leader This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.preferred choice of successor.

“She has shown that she is a successful research leader with encompassing knowledge on the pre-treatment of biomass. [Since the launch of Bio4Energy] she has taken on the role as head of lab at BTC Röbäcksdalen and become an appreciated thought leader in the [Bio4Energy] Graduate School”, according to Bio4Energy’s programme manager This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“We see Sylvia as Torbjörn's natural successor and are confident that she has both the necessary qualifications and will make a substantial contribution” as a platform leader, Boström added.

Since clinching her Bachelor of Science degree in Energy Engineering at Umeå University in 1999, Larsson has been working her way up the academic ladder as an affiliate of the SLU and winning her current title of associate professor in 2014. She manages a research group of two students and works closely with associate professor Torbjörn Lestander and researchers Mikael Thyrel, Mikko Mäkelä, Alejandro Grimm, Magnus Rudolfsson and David Agar; all members of Bio4Energy.

Read more: 'Natural' Choice of New Leader for Bio4Energy Wood Pre-processing

Season's Greeting from Bio4Energy

Details

Created: Monday, 18 December 2017 16:00

Written by Anna Strom

Can't see the lake for the trees? It's there, but the sun sets early in winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Photo by AnnaStrom© 2017.

Bio4Energy wants to thank its researchers, students, industrial network and stakeholders for an exciting year of 2017. Eight years into it, we have a research environment in full bloom, with 220 researchers collaborating with each other and with a vast network of industrial actors. In terms of education and training, the Bio4Energy scientist are active as teachers across 18 academic programmes or graduate schools, according to the most recent Bio4Energy Annual Report.

In addition, Bio4Energy is a research partner in the Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels, BioInnovation and the Bio-based Industries’ Consortium. Last, but not least, joint work and outreach is ongoing between Bio4Energy and its strategic partners RISE Processum and Piteå Science Park/Bothnia Bioindustries Cluster.

Many thanks again to all of you.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We look forward to continuing the work with our partners in 2018

Bio4Energy Events in Spring 2018

Attachments:

Sustainable Biomass Handling, Pre-treatment & Processing_Preliminary programme

[ ]

98 kB