News

• 2026-09-25

  French Students Explore Future Building Materials

  How can recycled wood fibres be used to create sustainable construction materials that also store carbon for long periods of time? This is one of the questions being investigated by two exchange students from France.

  Aylal Gaultier and Robin Grandzinski are engineering students at Supmicrotech in France. They are spending six months at Karlstad University through an international collaboration led by Marcus Vinícius Tavares da Costa, Assistant Professor of Building Technology.

  “Supmicrotech is a French higher education institution that trains engineers, and we would like to strengthen our collaboration with them. Aylal and Robin are currently studying here as exchange students, and we hope to welcome more students to Building Technology in the future,” says Marcus Vinícius Tavares da Costa.

• 2026-09-21

  From Old Clothes to New Fibres

  Every year, millions of tonnes of cotton are produced worldwide, while vast quantities of textiles are discarded or incinerated. Although cotton consists of almost pure cellulose, only a small proportion of the material is recycled into new textiles.

  In her mid-term study, Elise Meurs, an industrially associated PhD candidate in the EXACT Research School, investigates how cellulose pulp derived from recycled cotton behaves during the initial stages of the viscose process, the industrial method used to produce regenerated cellulose fibres. The aim is to enable the large-scale use of textile waste and thereby reduce the need for virgin raw materials from forests or cotton cultivation.

• 2026-09-08

  Collaboration in Focus as the Knowledge Foundation Visits Karlstad University

  On 7 September, representatives from the Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen) visited Karlstad University to gain deeper insight into how the university collaborates with industry in research and education. During the visit, several projects were presented in which the university and companies work together to develop new knowledge and strengthen Sweden’s competitiveness.

  Throughout the day, the representatives from the Knowledge Foundation met researchers and academic staff from the Pro2Be research environment and the Department of Computer Science. The aim was to gain a better understanding of how the university works with research, education and skills development in partnership with companies and organisations.

• 2026-08-13

  Three New Research Projects on Sustainable Energy and the Circular Bioeconomy

  The NewDePT (New Development for Pellet Technology) research group at Karlstad University has secured funding for three new research projects. Supported by the Richert Foundation and Vinnova, the projects focus on long-term storage of biofuel pellets, resource recovery from sewage sludge, and the sustainable utilisation of forestry industry residues.

  Pellets for Enhanced Energy Security

  This project will investigate how pellets produced from alternative and blended biomass feedstocks can be manufactured and stored safely and efficiently. Led by Associate Professor Magnus Ståhl, the project will run from September 2026 to June 2028.

• 2026-06-17

  Bioeconomy and innovation

  On 16–17 June, researchers, companies and clusters gathered for the BioEco Valley Summit 2026. This year’s theme, lignin, fibres and optimised circular processes, highlighted how the bioeconomy can contribute to the green transition.

  The conference was opened by County Governor George Andrén, who emphasised the strong position of Värmland within the forest-based bioeconomy and underlined the importance of collaboration between academia, industry and the public sector in addressing challenges such as climate change.

• 2026-05-28

  The Knowledge Foundation funds Infinity Fiber – aims to multiply the value of Sweden’s forest raw materials

  The Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen) is granting funding to the research profile Infinity Fiber at Karlstad University. The aim is to significantly increase the value of Swedish forest raw materials by extending fibre lifespans from today’s 2–3 uses to more than 20.

  The forest industry is central to the Swedish economy but faces increasing demands for sustainability, resource efficiency and biodiversity. Infinity Fiber aims to contribute to this transition by developing new circular ways of using wood fibres.