Image: Anna Strandberg
Research group The research is focusing on material characterization with X-ray tomography and other advanced techniques.
The research is mainly in the area of sustainable bioenergy and resource recovery, focusing on phosphorus-rich ashes and characterizing those concerning parameters relevant for nutrient recovery.
Large amounts of phosphorus and other important nutrients are found in many of society's residual streams. By utilizing the ash after combustion, it may be possible to recycle the nutrients. To be able to use the ash for nutrient recycling in an efficient and sustainable way, it is important to gain increased knowledge about how the chemical and physical properties of the ash affect the availability of the nutrients when the ash is used as a fertilizer. We want to study the properties of the ash that are important when applied to the soil and for the supply and uptake of nutrients in plants. The research includes characterization of materials with advanced technology such as X-ray tomography, in lab scale and at synchrotron, as well as SEM, EDS, and XRD, to evaluate parameters such as microstructure, porosity and surface area, and in which chemical form phosphorus compounds occur. We have had beamtime at SOLEIL, PETRA III, and Advanced Light Source.
One project aims to develop methods to use AI through deep learning on tomography data from synchrotron experiments. The technology provides a 3D image of the sample and with the help of advanced image processing, properties of the sample can be obtained. It is for this step that AI through deep machine learning can gain great significance through improved and more efficient data analysis.
The research is financed by Kempestiftelserna and Bio4Energy.
