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Lund University has a large team of researchers focusing on increasing our knowledge of how to create environmentally friendly chemicals, plastics, specific materials, fuel and energy sources from raw biological materials (biomass). Our hope is that our knowledge, which is based on several decades of both fundamental, and more applied research in collaboration with industry, will contribute to a s
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/biobased-industry - 2025-12-17
Biofuels are one of the many different types of products that can be made in biorefineries. There is a great need for society to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels (from, for example, coal or natural gas) in order to reduce the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, and the use of biofuels is one opportunity to do so. Producing biofuels can be the main process of a biorefinery,
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/biobased-industry/biofuels - 2025-12-17
A refinery is a factory where raw materials are transformed into useable products such as chemicals. Biorefineries perform the same role, but with biological raw material (biomass) such as plants or microorganisms instead of traditional chemicals. Biomass is a renewable source of raw material, as we can always grow more, unlike commonly used fossil fuels. In order to use biomass, the chemical reac
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/biobased-industry/biorefineries - 2025-12-17
The expression “industrial biotechnology” is used to describe the complete industrial process that uses biobased raw materials to produce chemicals, fuels, and products with help of primarily biotechnological methods. It is often called “white biotechnology” to distinguish it from those companies in biotechnology attempting to make pharmaceutical products from biobased sources, which is referred t
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/biobased-industry/industrial-biotechnology - 2025-12-17
About LUBIRC Read about how we can collaborate Our Research Industrial Biobased Researchers at Lund University Calendar Link to RSS More events What is biobased industry? LUBIRC was founded at the beginning of 2014 by scientists at Lund University with support from the Lund University board and Region Skåne. At LUBIRC, we collect together researchers with wide-ranging knowledge of biobased product
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/lubirc - 2025-12-17
Research in areas related to the bioeconomy at Lund University The figure below illustrates the various areas of research that are involved in the different steps needed to develop a new product or process from renewable resources. More details on each can be found by clicking on the relevant boxes below, or via the menu on the left.
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research - 2025-12-17
Sweden has all the right ingredients, both technically as well as in the form of available natural resources, to create a competitive bioeconomy with complex biorefineries and production of green chemicals. There are, however, many other important aspects that affect the development of a bioeconomy. These can be political decisions and regulations, corporate culture, the research climate, and how
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/bioeconomy - 2025-12-17
Producing chemicals and materials from biomass instead of fossil resources is a much more complicated process. The biomass itself contains many different substances and, in order to use it in optimally, its composition needs to be analyzed and fractionated. Biomass can originate from several different sources such as crops, or waste from agriculture and the forestry industry. It can also be genera
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/biomass - 2025-12-17
Transforming biobased resources into the desired products requires customized processes and technological solutions. The processes need to successfully integrate knowledge about the properties of both the resource used and the biocatalyst, ensuring that reasonable yields and high levels of productivity will be produced and thus good process economy. The methods of transformation will vary dependin
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/bioprocess-technology - 2025-12-17
Enzymes used for industrial catalysis (also called biocatalysts) have to meet a great number of requirements. They originate from living organisms, usually microorganisms, and they have a basic function to transform specific biological substances inside that organism, so that the transformed molecules can be used in metabolism. To be used industrially they must become robust enough to tolerate an
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/enzymatic-catalysis - 2025-12-17
The biomass raw material consists of a large number of different chemical compounds – both small molecules and large (macro)molecules. The main macromolecules are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, but there can also be a considerable fraction of lipids. Cellulose and hemicellulose are carbohydrates (although variously modified in hemicellulose), while lignin is a complex macromolecule composed
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/pre-treatment - 2025-12-17
Just because a product is produced using renewable raw materials and with biotechnological methods, it does not make it automatically more environmentally friendly. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), we can attempt to quantify the total environmental impact resulting from the entire life cycle of a product – from production of raw material, via processing, use of final product, and finally to wast
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/life-cycle-assessment - 2025-12-17
Within Lund University there is a significant research effort towards developing new materials and polymers. The building of both the European Spallation Source, ESS, and MAX IV in Lund has already begun to provide exciting new possibilities to study the internal structures and properties of these materials. More information about the researchers involved in research related to material science ca
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/material-science - 2025-12-17
In microbial catalysis, whole microorganisms (usually yeast or bacteria) are used to convert biomass into the desired product. Through genetic modification of the cell, metabolic engineering, evolutionary adaption, and/or optimization of the conditions for the process (such as temperature, nutrition, oxygenation, etc.), it is possible to control a microorganism to produce the precise product requi
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/microbial-catalysis - 2025-12-17
In almost all industrial processes the separation of different components is needed. A variety of different techniques can be used at all stages; during pre-treatment of the raw material, during the downstream processing of the reaction solution, and lastly when concentrating and purifying the final products. Researchers work with separation technology at Lund University for use within bioprocesse
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/summary-research/separation-technology - 2025-12-17
The main directive of LUBIRC is to foster greater collaboration amongst researchers, with the long-term aim of promoting research towards new biobased products and processes. At LUBIRC you can find the collected knowledge of Lund University’s researchers on biobased products and processes. We work primarily towards the development of completely new products and processes, but also the replacement
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/about-lubirc/collaboration - 2025-12-17
Josefin Ahlqvist Project Manager Email: josefin [dot] ahlqvist [at] fsi [dot] lu [dot] se Telephone: 046 222 4118 Mobile: 0760 247898 Research, Collaboration and Innovation Medicon Village, Scheeletorget 1 223 63 LUND
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/about-lubirc/contact - 2025-12-17
What do we mean by a "circular" or a "biobased" economy? Why are these important and how do we get there? The most pressing concern the world has today is how to adapt our way of life in order to prevent further damage to our environment. Predictions of a future changing climate have become real, and with new reports daily of vanishing ecosystems, wild weather, and polluted habitats, it is clear t
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/circular-and-biobased-economy - 2025-12-17
In their Research and Innovation Strategy for a Biobased Economy, Formas, the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development defined a biobased economy as based on: A sustainable production of biomass to enable increased use within a number of different sectors of society. The objective is to reduce climate effects and the use of fossil-based raw materials. An increased added value for bioma
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/circular-and-biobased-economy/principles-biobased-economy - 2025-12-17
Traditionally, our economy has been thought of as "linear"; raw materials are manufactured into products, used by consumers, and then thrown away once they are no longer useful. By reusing and recycling, however, we not only reduce our usage of raw materials, but also recoup much of their financial value in the long term. A circular economy aims to close the loop by recycling all products and mini
https://www.lubirc.lu.se/circular-and-biobased-economy/principles-circular-economy - 2025-12-17
