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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
Digital Cellulose Center
Centrumet har en tvärvetenskaplig kompetens och infrastruktur för industridriven, excellent forskning inom området digital cellulosa. Genom strategisk kompetens och samarbetsstrukturer ska centrumet göra cellulosabaserade produkter till en integrerad del av ett hållbart, digitalt samhälle och bidra till en ökad tillväxt hos den deltagande industrin. Forskningen inom Digital Cellulose Center fokuserar på området digital cellulosa, där […]
Cellulosed based foams for water purification
We have designed foams which are built only from green components and can be prepared in up-scalable and easy manner: blending and oven-drying. Amyloid nanofibrils are used mainly as a foaming agent and cellulose nanofibrils are playing the role of the main visco-elastic stabilizer. We also use covalent cross-linking to enhance foam resistance towards capillary […]
EXACT – Excellence in Advancing for a Circular Transition
The research school ‘EXACT- Excellence in Advancing for a Circular Transition’ combines bioeconomy with smart digitalization, in a collaboration between the two research groups Pro2BE and DAMI4.0 at Karlstad University. The Ph.D. students will develop energy-efficient digitalized production processes or products and high-quality bio-based materials. The aim of this research school is to contribute to […]
Structure-properties relationship of covalently crosslinked cellulose networks
In this work, the structure-property relationship of covalently crosslinked cellulose networks is studied by utilizing surface modified cellulose nanofibrils and polymer links of defined structure and molecular weight. The effect of molecular weight, chemical functionality and concentration on specific surface area, swelling, and mechanical properties of the hydrogel networks will be investigated.
BIOdegradable vegan networks from REcycled agro-food waste as sustainable single-use abSORBents (BioRESorb)
The objective is to develop biodegradable absorbents containing nonwoven fiber networks from agro-food biomass waste. The material's structure-absorption relationship will be investigated and designed to make a fully bio-based absorbent core encapsulated in a natural nonwoven fabric. The raw materials will also be combined with other natural polymers to provide additional functionality (antimicrobial or binding […]
