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Project

Enzymatic engineering of hemicellulose hydrogels

In this project we will engineer hemicellulose hydrogels using a wide range of enzymes, from oxidative laccases that introduce crosslinking to specific hydrolases that cleave selectively side chains from the hemicelluloses. We expect that the enzymatic treatments will modulate the network interactions in the hydrogels and the rheological properties. We will investigate the morphology and

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Wood modification towards hierarchical catalyst

Electrocatalytic reaction is a green technology for sustainable energy conversion, materials design, environment remediation, and green chemistry, where the role of catalyst is essential. Hierarchical structures combining multi-scale pores are favorable due to combined high specific surface area, mass diffusion in the structure and accessibility to the surface. In nature, biological materials are much more

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Förhorning av träfibrer

Projektet går ut på att genom experimentella studier bygga upp en kunskap kring förhorning av komponenterna i träfibrer. Förhorning är ett fenomen där, i nuläget praktiskt sett irreversibla, processer i samband med torkning förändrar fibrernas svällning och flexibilitet och därmed bindningsförmåga. Bindningsförmågan till andra fibrer har stor inverkan på hur starka fibernätverk kan skapas och

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Soft highly swelling fibres by alkali-activated chemical modification 

To make cellulose fibres more flexible and malleable, components inside the fibre must be properly modified, that is, the lignin, hemicellulose or cellulose needs to be at least partly transformed into a proper derivative. Several cellulose derivatives are today produced through chemical reactions that involves formation of ether bonds. To reach sufficient efficiency, these reactions

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Wood-based barriers for wood-based materials

Paper/wood-based materials suffer from poor barrier and moisture-sensitive properties (left figure). By learning how nature (plants/fruits) create moisture and gas barriers, we have developed crosslinked barrier biopolyesters (representing the cutin layer in plants) with also a process that yields a rough wax-like outer layer, similar to what is observed in plants, giving high surface hydrophobicity

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Energy efficiency and modelling of vacuum dewatering in modern tissue machines

The project is a research coproduction between the research environment Pro2BE at Karlstad University, Valmet and Albany International about energy efficiency of tissue production. The project is aimed at acquiring deeper knowledge about tissue vacuum dewatering and at modelling vacuum dewatering during tissue production, both with a conventional tissue manufacturing method (DCT) and with Through

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Biobased barriers on packaging substrates

The PhD project in chemical engineering will use wood-pulp fibres, modified cellulosic materials, dewatering and drying as well as computational fluid dynamics, mass transfer models, rheological characterization of complex fluids and renewable packaging solutions. The studies will involve experimental work as well as calculations and modelling of the barrier performance. The research focus of the

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Quantifying fire-retardant concentrations in fire-retardant treated wood

This project focuses on one of the most basic questions within the topic of fire retarded (FR) treated wood; “how we can actually measure the concentration of FR in wood specimens”, this seems like a trivial question, but is actually a significant issue, barrier to further research studies, and more wide spread usage of wood

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Uncovering the synergistic effects between cellulose and lignin for advanced forest-based carbon fibers

Carbon fibers made completely from biobased material with a low climate impact is an area of research that have seen significant breakthroughs during the last years. Forest-based carbon fibers from certified forests have a high value and potential to stimulate new value chains in the area of light-weight composites, making it possible to use carbon

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Physical Structure and Interactions between Lignin and its Surroundings

The aim of the project is to gain a deeper fundamental understanding of how the classical structural factors and unique morphology of lignin affects the interaction between lignin and lignin-based materials and its surroundings. The affect of chemical structure and morphology on the material performance of lignin-based materials will be investigated along with the behavior

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Water based wood treatment

For a more sustainable production of wood aerogel, treatment with the water based solvent, NaOH, can give the wood template a porous structure in sub-zero conditions. However, it is found that the porosity of the wood templates treated with NaOH (aq) can be affected at room temperature conditions as well. Towards a greener aerogel production,

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