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  • Accelerated Integration and Future Past 2020 was the theme for a recent Spring 2017 Bio4Energy Researchers' Meetingor Bio4Energy biannual conference for its researchers. The presenters were all recruited for their willingness to collaborate more widely across the Bio4Energy Research and Development Platforms.

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    The second day of two had a focus on Bio4Energy System Analysis and Bioeconomy. Platform leader This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.of the Luleå University of Technology said two important considerations, when assessing emerging technologies in a system perspective, were to apply appropriate system boundaries and to take into account the societal context at the time of commercialisation of any resulting products.

  • Sennai Mesfun of the R&D platform Bio4Energy System Analysis and Bioeconomy will be defending his PhD thesis on Thursday 09/06 at 14:00, in room E632 at the Luleå University of Technology, LTU.

    The title of this thesis is "Process integration to increase woody biomass utilization for energy purposes" and his advisor is the LTU professor Andrea Toffolo.

  • Forestry residues Photo by Anna StromPotential biofuel? A heap of forestry residue at recreational area on the outskirts of Gothenburg, Sweden. Photo by Anna Strom©.The report Sustainable Transportation Biofuels Today and in the Future—presented in 2013 as part of the Swedish government investigation on how to make road transport "independent" of fossil fuel use by 2030—has been released in a summary version.

    "We wanted to make a short and updated version that was more easily accessible and readable", said co-author This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of the Bio4Energy System Analysis and Bioeconomy Platform. Lundgren, who is a professor at the Luleå University of Technology (LTU), drafted the summary together with colleagues at Lund University, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels (f3 Centre). 

    Compared with the full report, a few updates had been made regarding the estimate for future sustainable outtake of forestry residues as feedstock for biofuel production, Lundgren said. Moreover, the estimate for annual domestic biofuel production by 2030 had been lowered from 25-35 terawatt hours (TWh) to 22-32 TWh. This was because the estimate for future potential outtake of tree stumps had been reduced, he added.

    The Gothenburg-based f3 Centre published both the report and its summary.

    "f3 took the initiative [for us to draft] the summary because the report we wrote were a couple of hundred pages long. Not something people read in a coffee break, perhaps".

    Both papers are intended to guide researchers and decision-makers working to pave the way for ridding Sweden's transport fleet of its dependence on fossil fuels and meet the country's greenhouse gas reduction targets.

  • Mats Tysklind 516Environmental chemist Mats Tysklind has won an award for having cooperated with partners in academia, industry and with public bodies. Photo by courtesy of Umeå University.A new professor in Bio4Energy since the start of its second programme period 1 January 2016, environmental chemist This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. has started his mandate by winning a prize for having cooperated successfully with a number of organisations. It is awarded by the Faculty of Science and Technology at his home institution, Umeå University (UmU), and will be handed to him at award ceremony 21 May. Two days prior Tysklind will be giving a public lecture entitled Samverkan – avgörande för utveckling av smart miljöteknik.

    Since cooperation across organisations and disciplinary borders is what Bio4Energy is about, and since Tysklind is part of its new research platform Bio4Energy System Analysis and Bioeconomy, which is task is precisely to provide a system's perspective on processes and products that are developed in the cluster, the award is felt to be timely.

    "During many years we have been making an effort to cooperate widely with different organisations in society. Now that one thinks about it they are incredibly many. Lately we are [reaching out specifically to] organisations that promote sustainable development and green technology and environmental technology. It has resulted in [the university's] investing in a new area of research on Green Technology and Environmental Economics", Tysklind said when asked why he thought he had received the prize.

  • JLB4E RM Oct2016Joakim Lundgren, associate professor at the Luleå University of Technology, heads the R&D platform Bio4Energy System Analysis and Bioeconomy. Photo by Bio4Energy.Feedstock for sustainable biofuel production. That is what the industry and research community tell us they want more of, of kinds that are economically and environmentally sustainable, as well as socially acceptable. Notably, there have been calls for focusing research and development (R&D) efforts on developing new types of tailor-made feedstock, such as Bio4Energy’s feedstock researchers do when they try to design and experimentally grow hybrid aspen for the purpose of making biofuel or nanocellulose for the production of specific bio-based materials. Many of the Bio4Energy partner organisations are involved in this effort. 

    6 February 2017 some of them will gather at Umeå, Sweden for a seminar precisely on Feedstock for Sustainable Biofuel Production, set in a system analysis perspective and jointly organised the Swedish Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels, Bio4Energy and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

    Feedstock for Sustainable Biofuel Production

    — Feedstock Potentials, Climate Change Impact of Forestry and the Realisation of Forest Biorefinery 

     
    You are invited!

     Programme and registration
    Click the link above or go to the Bio4Energy Events' page

  • Bauer F, Hansen T, Hellsmark H. 2018. Innovation in the bioeconomy – Dynamics of biorefinery innovation networks. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management. E-pub ahead of print

  • Frida Royne Photo by FRSystem analysis student in Bio4Energy Frida Røyne will be defending her PhD thesis on LCA and forest products 22 April at Umeå, Sweden. Photo by courtesy of Frida Røyne.A well-known method for assessing the environmental and climate change impacts of products over their life-cycle is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Forest products are no exception in this respect. However, while there has been rising interest in applying LCA to check the impact of forest products designed to replace similar ones refined from fossil oil, in the last decade a discussion has been ongoing about how to account for greenhouse gas emissions and from which sources.

    LCA is one of the most commonly used methods for environmental life-cycle assessments, but the correctness of an assessment's outcome relies heavily on the researcher's choice of method in designing his or her study, as well as the availability of relevant input data.

    Tomorrow, a Bio4Energy student who has dwelled into both these issues will be defending her thesis on Exploring the Relevance of Uncertainty in the Life Cycle Assessment of Forest Products.

    Part of the new research and development platform Bio4Energy System Analysis and Bioeconomy, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. of Umeå University used recent cases studies—such as a "Forest Chemistry" project in which chemical and forestry industry in Sweden joined forces to try to assess whether a chemical industry cluster at Stenungsund could feasibly replace part of its fossil raw material base with forest-sourced feedstock—to draw conclusions as to whether LCA is a suitable method by which to assess forest products. However, being a generalist and employed by the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Røyne also was interested in looking at the development of LCA as a method of systems analysis, its potential flaws and the way in which these were being communicated.

    Her chief conclusion is that LCA is indeed an appropriate method for assessing the environmental and climate change impact of forest product systems, but that the use of additional methods—such as life-cycle management or scenario analysis—may be warranted and that, in each individual case, researchers have to ask themselves whether there are uncertainties and discuss these in their studies.

  • BM in ren pow systIllustration by courtesy of Elisabeth Wetterlund.System analysis researchers in Bio4Energy, together with colleagues at partner organisations in Europe, are starting a new project that will deliver assessment tools for the integration of electricity produced during biomass conversion operations into power production systems that currently rely on high shares of intermittent renewable sources of electricity such as wind and solar.

    "We want to see if biomass can play the role of balancing out unevenness in electricity production based on a great share of renewables", according to project leader This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who is an associate senior lecturer at the Luleå University of Technology (LTU) in northern Sweden.

    Last week, the Swedish Research Council Formas announced its intention to fund the project over two years and which will see considerable exchange of expertise between Bio4Energy at LTU, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. The latter two organisations are based in Austria.

    Several European countries are looking to introduce high shares of electricity made from renewable sources in their energy systems, but face the potential problem of either having to store solar and wind power at a high cost or not having enough in store during extended periods of cloudy weather and low winds or, for that matter, in times of even more extreme weather events.

  • Renewable TFuelsSystems Credit f3 CentreBio4Energy is part of five of nine projects to apply system analysis on new biofuels, recently granted by the funding programme Renewable Transportation Fuels and Systems.Bio4Energyis part of a swathe of new research projects to check whether various types of advanced biofuels can make the cut in the mix and competition with other fuels on the market. All are biofuels whose application is high in demand.

    This has led the Swedish Energy Agency, in collaboration with the f3 Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels (f3 Centre); to create a research-funding programme called Renewable Transportation Fuels and Systems. Spanning the years 2018 through 2021, its second round of funding has just been granted, with Bio4Energy participation in five of nine projects. Little wonder then, that Bio4Energy’s coordinator at the f3 Centre is pleased.

    “This is a good way to create a continuous stream of research [results] regarding the systemic conditions of technology-based projects. In Bio4Energy we are already experts at collaborating with each other, and here the collaboration can be extended to other funding programmes coordinated by the Energy Agency”, according to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., associate professor at the Luleå University of Technology in northern Sweden.

    Wetterlund herself is in charge of one the newly granted projects, called Future-proof biofuels through improved use of biogenic carbon – Carbon, climate and cost efficiency (K3).

  • Feedstock for sustainable biofuel production

    - Perspectives on tailor-made feedstock, influence of choice of method on estimates of climate impact and the role of EU policy and regulation

    a co-arrangement by f3, SLU and Bio4Energy

    6 February 2017, 10:15 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Venue: P.O. Bäckströms sal/aulan, SLU, Umeå

    The aim of the seminar is to give different perspectives on the feedstock side of the value chain of biofuel production. We choose to focus on the potential of tailor-made feedstock, effects of the choice of method on evaluating sustainability issues, as well as give an update of the role of EU policies and regulation in the development of sustainable biofuel production. The target audience is industrial, public and academic actors with an interest in the use of forest biomass, biorefinery and biofuel production and use. In addition, this will be an excellent opportunity to network with researchers, industry representatives and actors from the public sector representing the value chain of renewable transportation fuels.

    The programme contains plenary presentations and study visits to the Biomass Technology Centre (BTC) and the demonstration plant for torrefaction in Holmsund, IDU.

      

    f3 – fossil free fuels: The aim of the networking organization f3 is to contribute, through scientifically based knowledge, to the development of environmentally, economically and socially sustainable renewable fuels, as part of a future sustainable society. http://www.f3centre.se/

    SLU – Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences: The vision of SLU is to be a world-class university in the fields of life and environmental sciences. https://www.slu.se/en/

    Bio4Energy: The research environment Bio4Energy aims to create highly efficient and environmentally-sound biorefinery processes—including methods and tools for making products such as biofuels, "green" chemicals and new bio-based materials—which draw on biomass sourced from forests or organic waste as a raw material. http://www.bio4energy.se/

  • BioInnovation Seminar

    En förstudie gällande hållbarhetsfrågor kopplade till bioekonomin pågår inom ramen för det strategiska innovationsprogrammet BioInnovation. Målet med förstudien är att formulera ett projekt som kan stödja BioInnovations övriga projekt samt den biobaserade industrin i stort när det gäller hållbarhetsfrågor.

    Förstudien har den formella titeln Operationalisering av hållbarhetskriterier och LCA för den biobaserade sektorn i Sverige och den koordineras av SIS, Swedish Standards Institute. Ett antal parter är redan med – men vi vill ha input från fler och även fler som är villiga att delta i ett framtida projekt om dessa frågor!

    Vill du påverka utformningen av BioInnovations eventuellt framtida hållbarhetsprojekt? Kan du tänka dig att delta i ett sådant projekt? Eller vill du helt enkelt bli informerad om vad som är på gång och/eller vad befintlig standard innehåller? Välkommen på workshop den 20 januari 2017!

    Var: Näringslivets hus, Storgatan 19, Stockholm
    När:20 januari 2017 09.00–12.00; kaffe och smörgås från 08.30, lunch 12.00–13.00 för de som önskar

    Anmäl digviadenna länk.
    Sista anmälningsdag är 12 januari.

    Om du vill ha mer information, vänligen kontakta;
    Maria Gustafsson
    Projektledare, SIS
    Tfn: +46 72 280 19 40
    E-post: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  • Ibrahim Balyan SAEE 2016Sweden's energy minister Ibrahim Baylan told a conference that academic input had been vital for the government's recent Energy Agreement with opposition parties to go through. Photo by courtesy of the Luleå University of Technology.

    A conference by Bio4Energyresearchers and colleagues on the transformation of Sweden's energy system finished at Luleå last week, with keynote speaker Ibrahim Baylan, the Swedish energy minister, concluding that the recent Energy Agreement struck by the government and parties in political opposition before the summer recess hardly had been possible had the government not consulted widely with academic stakeholders.

    "He spoke about the Energy Agreement, but included a discussion on the need for research as a basis for political decision-making", said conference coordinator This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who represents Bio4Energy's System Analysis and Bioeconomy branch.

    The agreement between the ruling Social Democrats and Greens, and the Moderate Party, Christian Democrats and Centre Party in opposition, states that Sweden aims for its economy to have zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 and for its electrical power production system to be "100 per cent renewable" by 2040.

    The 23-24 August conference, hosted by the Swedish Association for Energy Economics and the Luleå University of Technology (LTU), also heard energy profile Tomas Kåberger, professor at the Chalmers University of Technology, contribute a global perspective and, notably, talking up solar energy as having a great potential of increasing the share of renewables in the overall energy mix. He had pointed to the example of how Germany has kept subsidising solar power installations and how, subsequently, solar panels have become mainstay on German rooftops, according to professor Lundmark.

  • Bio4Energy studentsltu AnnaStromExtent and credits: 7.5 ECTS             


    Course coordinator: Robert Lundmark 



    Objectives

    On completion of the course, students will:

    • Be able to understand how to apply a systems' perspective on their own research;

    • Have gained insights into the current global energy and environmental challenges; 

    • Have gained insights into the rational of sustainability; 

    • Have awareness of tools and methods used for environmental, technical and economic systems analysis. 

    Dates and locations - Course start in October 2019

    Autumn 2019: 

    28 October - 1 November, Luleå, Sweden: Lectures and workshops;

    Followed by independent work on a project assignment.

    Contents

    The course consists of:

    • Lectures (on sustainability issues, systems analysis approaches and tools) and workshops;

    • Lectures on essential subjects for large-scale biorefinery or bioenergy research and;

    • A project assignment, where the students identify suitable systems analysis tools or methods to be applied to their own research. The outcome will be a draft research proposal, a journal or conference manuscript or a chapter of a thesis.

    Application and prerequisites

    The application for enrolment in Systems Perspectives on Biomass Resources is closed.

    For enquiries regarding the course content, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

  • Akkats power station Credit LTUAkkats hydro power station far north in Sweden at Jokkmokk, owned by state-run energy utility Vattenfall. Photo by courtesy of Vattenfall AB.Bio4Energy researchers and industrial partners are calling on energy stakeholders—representatives of Swedish authorities, business and industry, research institutes and academics—to join them 23-24 Augustat Luleå, Sweden, for talks on how far the country has come in implementing a sustainable energy system.

    Summarising the economic, social and environmental side of things, as well as discussing ways forward, does not sound like an easy task to accomplish in two days, but conference coordinator This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. believes it can be done.

    "The transformation of the Swedish energy system is a great undertaking and requires a broad start. There will be 50 research presentations and a number of keynote [addresses] by people from industry and authorities and politicians. People can expect to hear about systems' studies, analyses of political support measures, how to promote biofuels and the development of markets and trade", according to Lundmark, who is a professor at the Luleå University of Technology.

    Ibrahim Balyan, Sweden's minister for energy, and Tomas Kåberger, Swedish energy profile and professor at Chalmers University of Technology, are posted as keynote speakers on the website of the Swedish Association for Energy Economics Conference 2016, and the event is subtitled 'Current and future challenges of energy systems in Sweden and neighbouring countries'.