| 1. |
- Pawar, Sudhanshu S., et al.
(författare)
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MultiBio: Environmental services from a multipurpose biorefinery
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- MultiBio project aimed to establish and demonstrate a novel multipurpose biorefinery cascade concept, producing three renewable biobased products: 1) biohydrogen, 2) biopolymers and 3) protein rich meal ingredients for fish farming. The cascade concept exploits the ability of a bacterium (Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus) to transform nutrients present in low-value waste process waters of the pulp and paper industry, to high-value products hydrogen gas, organic acids and microbial biomass. The organic acid rich effluent will then be managed in an open culture microbial process used to achieve discharge water quality objectives and to produce polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers. Moreover, since C. saccharolyticus protein content is more than 63% of cell dry weight, their potential in formulation of fish feed was evaluated. A fiber sludge containing, CTMP residual stream was found to be a possible feedstock for the MultiBio process concept. Due to safety risks the demo-scale experiments of biohydrogen gas technology were moved from Biorefinery demo plant (Örnsköldsvik) of 40 m3 capacity to ATEX classified pilot-scale facility with 0.4 m3 capacity. Hence, bacterial biomass enough for the large-scale fish feed ingredient could not be produced. Lab-scale experiments with Caldicellulosiruptor cells as fish feed ingredient showed promising results as a protein-rich, sustainable fish feed ingredient. In addition, PHA biopolymer also showed favourable results as fish food ingredient for experiments at Gårdsfisk AB. Lab-scale experimental tests showed that the surplus activated sludge from the mills wastewater treatment could currently accumulate PHA to about 20 % of its dry weight. Mass balance evaluations based on realistically achievable expectations indicated a PHA biopolymer production potential of 3 600 tons of PHA per year from available organic residuals and for the two evaluated mills combined. The MultiBio concept has a positive climate impact in comparison with current treatment and moves developments in a positive direction to achieve 7 of the 10 Swedish environmental goals. Through a detailed feasibility analysis, a natural progression in next steps in scenarios were suggested for PHA production. The MultiBio cascade process can be implemented with further necessary development with good business potential and a positive effect on climate change. However, biohydrogen technology needs further developments before this cascade process concept can be implemented. Alternatively, a scenario with only biopolymer technology shows already a significant business potential and even larger positive effect on climate change. A successful next step in demonstration of the PHA biopolymer production scenario may lead to it being implemented within the next few years. Furthermore, MultiBio has attracted a lot of attention regionally and nationally but also internationally with a total of 65 media listings. A licentiate thesis and three university degree projects linked to the project have been completed. Overall, the MultiBio project has successfully achieved its goals and objectives.
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| 2. |
- Bard, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Pulp Wastewater Treatment Using Anaerobic Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors: A Case-Study
- 2024
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Ingår i: International Conference on Wider-Uptake of Water Resource Recovery from Wastewater Treatment, ICWRR 2024. - : Springer Nature. ; 524 LNCE, s. 234-239
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The pulp and paper (P&P) industry holds significant global importance. However, the industry’s processes substantially demand water and energy resources. Consequently, there is a pressing need for the industry to adopt more sustainable production practices, aiming to trim environmental impact and strengthen resilience against climate change. Recent research has highlighted the potential for substantial increases in Swedish biogas production using anaerobic wastewater (WW) treatment methods within P&P mills. The P&P sector traditionally relies on aerobic biological WW treatment, overlooking the valuable opportunity for WW resource recovery. This study aims to evaluate anaerobic moving bed biofilm reactors (AnMBBR) to enhance energy recovery while enabling treatment capacity for the P&P industry’s anaerobic WW treatment. The results of this study showed the resilience of the AnMBBR system. It proved capable of recovering from overload conditions and operating even during prolonged periods at low pH levels. However, the system removes mainly soluble COD, suggesting higher capabilities on P&P WW with a high fraction of soluble COD. Its ability to produce methane-rich biogas demonstrates efficient gas production while maintaining simple operational procedures.
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| 3. |
- Werker, Alan, et al.
(författare)
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The production of biopolymers for bioplastics using pulp and paper mill wastewater and residual fibre streams
- 2020
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- As part of the Multibio project, the potential for production of biobased and biodegradable polymers, from organic residuals in process effluent streams, was evaluated for Stora Enso Skoghalls and Rottneros pulp and paper mills in Värmland, Sweden. These biopolymers are thermoplastic polyesters made by naturally occurring bacteria and are from the family of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). They can be formulated as principal ingredients for plastics, functional chemicals, and composite materials of interest to a diversity of sectors including the pulp and paper industry. They can also be formulated into fish feed to impart pre/pro-biotic benefits in aquaculture. Commercial quantities and qualities of PHAs can be produced as a corollary benefit to biological wastewater treatment processes that are used to treat industrial and municipal wastewaters for environmental protection. The goal of the present study has been to determine the potential quantities of PHA that could be produced as an integral part of the mill residual organics and effluent management. The aim of this Multibio work package has also been to recommend steps forward.It was estimated that Skoghalls and Rottneros mills manage 70 and 15 tons per day of residual organic material on a chemical oxygen demand (COD) basis, and in relation to respective production levels of about 778,000 and 170,000 ton/yr paper and board. These numbers were calculated from mass balances using historical monitoring information provided by the mills and with measurements made in this study on samples from selected locations of the treatment processes. The residual COD is comprised of fibre and surplus activated sludge as well as soluble dissolved organic material. This organic material is a resource to produce a microbial biomass rich in PHA with remaining organic material being used for boiler heat production. Improved sludge dewatering is expected such that COD used for heat production today could be diverted to PHA without undue loss of heat production capacity in the balance.Two process scenarios are presented (Scenario 1 & 2) as a logical progression of risk and development. PHA production requires that some organic feedstock is first converted into volatile fatty acids (VFAs) through acidogenic fermentation. If all the residual organic mass is used to produce VFAs (Scenario 1), it was estimated that about 2 000 and 400 tons PHA per year could be produced at Skoghalls and Rottneros mills, respectively. Production amounts would be increased (Scenario 2) by about 50 % (3 000 and 600 tPHA/yr, respectively) if the residual mass flows of waste activated sludge biomass from the mill aerobic biological wastewater treatment processes could be exploited for a PHA storing potential rather than just being an organic feedstock to yield VFAs. A mill side-line of polymer production anchors in-house supply and experience with PHAs while casting a net for evolving and capturing future interesting materials and business. Future mill economies may foreseeably require standing on wider business footings including fibre as well as from other cellulose derived biobased revenue generating products and services. PHAs can naturally also be made using the prime input lumber starting with hemicellulose and cellulose. Opening a PHA specialty industry first is a way to open the door for discovery that may well motivate directing strategically separated mill upstream organic fractions to successful large commercial revenues from PHAs in the future.
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| 4. |
- Broberg, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Potentialstudie för biogassubstrat i Västra Götaland, Halland och Skåne
- 2022
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The potential of producing biogas by digestion from substrates in Västra Götaland, Halland and Skåne has in this study been estimated to approximately 5 900 GWh per year, of which 2 300 GWh are found in Västra Götaland, 650 GWh in Halland and 3 000 GWh in Skåne. The estimated potential is based on the current amounts of the substrate categories food waste, agricultural residues, manure, sludge from sewage treatment plants and industrial organic residues. For each of the three regions, the largest contributor to the current substrate potential is agricultural residues. This category contributes with approximately 3 900 GWh annually in total for the three regions. However, to be able to fully realize the potential of the agricultural residues there are logistic and technical challenges to be solved. Manure accounts for the second largest contribution to the potential, approximately 1 000 GWh per year for the three regions. The conditions to realize the manure potential are good with national production support in place for this substrate category.The study also includes a brief investigation of future substrate categories focused on marine substrates, grass and hay harvesting, industrial wastewater and biological methanation. From the future substrates, a contribution of a total of 3 600 GWh per year will be added to the estimated potential for the three regions. The largest addition is potential biological methanation of the carbon dioxide streams from the total substrate potential from the current categories, approximately 3 000 GWh annually. Thereafter, the largest contributing future substrate category is industrial wastewater. Including the future substrate flows, a total biogas potential of 9 500 GWh per year was estimated for Västra Götaland, Skåne and Halland together. To realize the potential, close cooperation between substrate owners, gas producers and municipalities are needed together as well as a long-term policy landscape.
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| 5. |
- Donev, Evgeniy N., et al.
(författare)
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Field testing of transgenic aspen from large greenhouse screening identifies unexpected winners
- 2023
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Ingår i: Plant Biotechnology Journal. - : Wiley. - 1467-7644 .- 1467-7652. ; 21:5, s. 1005-1021
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Trees constitute promising renewable feedstocks for biorefinery using biochemical conversion, but their recalcitrance restricts their attractiveness for the industry. To obtain trees with reduced recalcitrance, large-scale genetic engineering experiments were performed in hybrid aspen blindly targeting genes expressed during wood formation and 32 lines representing seven constructs were selected for characterization in the field. Here we report phenotypes of five-year old trees considering 49 traits related to growth and wood properties. The best performing construct considering growth and glucose yield in saccharification with acid pretreatment had suppressed expression of the gene encoding an uncharacterized 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (2OGD). It showed minor changes in wood chemistry but increased nanoporosity and glucose conversion. Suppressed levels of SUCROSE SYNTHASE, (SuSy), CINNAMATE 4-HYDROXYLASE (C4H) and increased levels of GTPase activating protein for ADP-ribosylation factor ZAC led to significant growth reductions and anatomical abnormalities. However, C4H and SuSy constructs greatly improved glucose yields in saccharification without and with pretreatment, respectively. Traits associated with high glucose yields were different for saccharification with and without pretreatment. While carbohydrates, phenolics and tension wood contents positively impacted the yields without pretreatment and growth, lignin content and S/G ratio were negative factors, the yields with pretreatment positively correlated with S lignin and negatively with carbohydrate contents. The genotypes with high glucose yields had increased nanoporosity and mGlcA/Xyl ratio, and some had shorter polymers extractable with subcritical water compared to wild-type. The pilot-scale industrial-like pretreatment of best-performing 2OGD construct confirmed its superior sugar yields, supporting our strategy.
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| 6. |
- Peters, Greg, et al.
(författare)
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LCA on fast and slow garment prototypes
- 2018
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This report summarises the environmental assessment work done in the Mistra Future Fashion program focussed on the potential to improve the environmental performance of garments and adapt them to a circular economy. The approaches examined in this report include reducing the environmental impacts from fast-fashion trends by making garments from paper-based materials, or by extending garment life cycles.This assessment considers two paper-based garments. One is made primarily from paper pulp but enhanced with a polylactic acid polymer. This garment is worn between two to five times before being recycled as newspaper. The other fast garment is made of paper pulp, polylactic acid and nanocellulose. It has a similar life cycle but is composted after use life. These garments are compared with a standard t-shirt. The report also considers a slow-paced scenario in which a polyester garment passes between several owners and is regularly changed to maintain its appeal. It is updated with a transfer sublimation overprint three times, making the garment darker each time. Later it is joined with an outer shell of new material using laser technology to make a cropped, box-cut jacket.The assessment was performed using environmental life cycle assessment. More particularly, the assessment was based on attributional process analysis with cutoff allocation procedures and comparison with a traditional reference garment life cycle. Key environmental effect categories considered here include climate change (greenhouse gas emissions), freshwater eutrophication, freshwater ecotoxicity and human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer).The results indicate that the environmental outcomes of the paper-based garments can be competitive with the reference garment, particularly when the user is assumed to throw away a fully functional reference garment after five uses. This assumption may be true for some users, but the number of uses is considerably lower than the typical or the potential lifespan of the reference garment. The main factor assisting the paper-based garments is the reduction in the impacts per mass associated with material manufacturing (fibres, spinning, knitting), and also their lighter masses. Avoided impacts in the use phase play a secondary role on account of their location in Sweden with its low-carbon energy mix. The long-life garments are also competitive compared with their reference garments. This is primarily a consequence of how extending garment life avoids the production of new garments. The environmental impacts associated with transfer sublimation dye reprinting and laser processing do not significantly impact the overall environmental performance of the extended longlife garments, though confidentiality of data prevents a full assessment of these.The garments in this report are pilot products and explorative scenarios rather than attempts to model existing business or behavioural patterns. The reader should therefore take care to keep the results in context when interpreting them. Nevertheless, the results suggest the value of pursuing the potential associated with these garment life cycles. We should also bear in mind that while the reference garments in this assessment are based on typical usage patterns, other more sustainable patterns are feasible.
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| 7. |
- Røyne, Frida, et al.
(författare)
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Assessment Roadmapfor Emerging Bio-based Technologies : Identifying Sustainability Prospects with Multiple Perspectives
- 2019
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Ingår i: Life cycle Management Conference 2019. - Poznan, Polen.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many bio-based technologies are emerging technologies, with the characteristics of being radical and fast growing. The 2018 Nobel prize in chemistry is based on enzymatic bio-based conversion as a green alterative for several conventional technologies. Overall, the transition to a bio-based economy is seen as a mean to reach sustainability, energy independence and economic growth. Bioeconomy strategies have however also been criticized for focusing too much on economic growth and too little on sustainability. Assessing potential life cycle sustainability risks and benefits early in the development of technologies – when still at lab or pilot scale – provides valuable insights about how to prioritize research activities and to potentially avert unintended consequences. The lack of knowledge and high uncertainty in early development however also makes such assessments challenging. On the social sustainability side, bio-based technologies create new jobs, while the social acceptance can hinder the market growth even in an innovation country like Sweden. Emerging technologies like for example artificial intelligence might reduce jobs and gene therapy in medicine might bear risk for coming future generation. The questions and risks are manifold. Therefore, it is essential to have a roadmap for guidance that takes a holistic approach to sustainability with a life cycle perspective. To add to the complexity, the possibilities for assessment approaches are extensive. Different perspectives can be assessed in numerous ways and with many different methods. The goal of this study is to contribute to a sustainable transition to the bioeconomy, by serving as a roadmap for research and innovation (R&I) on emerging bio-based technologies.To suggest a general roadmap for holistic and interdisciplinary assessments, this study identifies, and describes the use of multiple perspective assessments in selected R&I projects on emerging bio-based technologies. The projects include virgin and waste raw materials, biotechnology conversion processes and products such as bio-based chemicals, building materials, soil amendment, and pellets for heat. The findings are, in combination with existing frameworks on biomass- and bio-product prospect models, used to suggest an assessment roadmap for identifying sustainability prospects of emerging bio-based technologies.The result consists of an “assessment roadmap” including the perspectives resource-, economic-, environmental-, social- and market potential. Each perspective is accompanied by questions targeted to identify benefits and risks, such as “What valorization routes currently exists, and are under research, for the feedstock?”; “Is the feedstock available, also in the future?”; “Is the production technology socially accepted?”. The roadmap for bio -based emerging technologies also provides advice on the procedure for sustainability assessments, such as organizing an initial workshop with expert knowledge and highlight the importance of scanning before allocating resources for in depth analyses.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Drake, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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Extreme C-13 depletion of carbonates formed during oxidation of biogenic methane in fractured granite
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Precipitation of exceptionally C-13-depleted authigenic carbonate is a result of, and thus a tracer for, sulphate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation, particularly in marine sediments. Although these carbonates typically are less depleted in C-13 than in the source methane, because of incorporation of C also from other sources, they are far more depleted in C-13 (delta C-13 as light as - 69% V-PDB) than in carbonates formed where no methane is involved. Here we show that oxidation of biogenic methane in carbon-poor deep groundwater in fractured granitoid rocks has resulted in fracture-wall precipitation of the most extremely C-13-depleted carbonates ever reported, delta C-13 down to - 125% V-PDB. A microbial consortium of sulphate reducers and methane oxidizers has been involved, as revealed by biomarker signatures in the carbonates and S-isotope compositions of co-genetic sulphide. Methane formed at shallow depths has been oxidized at several hundred metres depth at the transition to a deep-seated sulphate-rich saline water. This process is so far an unrecognized terrestrial sink of methane.
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| 10. |
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