The students, enrolled in the Master of Science in Chemical Engineering Programme with a focus on forest bioeconomy, had the opportunity to visit Billerud Gruvön.
Ali Mohammadi has been involved in research on sustainability assessment of bio-based systems since he began his PhD. During his doctoral project at the University of New England in Australia, he studied economic and environmental impacts of biochar and bioenergy production from agricultural biomass.
We receive district heating and electricity from cogeneration plants (also known as combined heat and power plants). In the future they might also produce bio-oil, which can be used as biofuel or replace fossil oil in the chemicals industry.
In order for pharmaceuticals to be safe, they must be clean of pollutants. Carbon dioxide can be used to make the purification process more environmentally friendly, which may seem paradoxical since carbon dioxide is usually associated with a negative climate impact.
Lars Järnström, professor of coating technology, came to Karlstad University in 1999 and has been involved in building the current strong research environment for fibre-based processes and products. Now retirement is approaching but he will continue working at the university as senior professor.
Lars Järnström's research centres mainly on environment-friendly surface treatment of fibre-based packaging materials.
The world needs more efficient energy systems based on renewable raw material, an equation not easily solved. At Karlstad University, research and education are in progress to find sustainable energy systems, for instance, through a project in which pellets replace charcoal in cooking solutions in Zambia, because cooking with charcoal as fuel leads to extensive deforestation as well as health hazards.
Valmet’s Tissue Technology Award 2018 goes to Björn Sjöstrand, Ph.D. student in chemical engineering at Karlstad University, for his research and development of computer models for energy efficient tissue production.
