The Swedish Research Council grants funding for cellulose research at Mid Sweden University
Magnus Norgren, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Mid Sweden University’s research center FSCN, receives SEK 3.8 million from the Swedish Research Council for a study on cellulose as triboelectric material.
The research grant creates the conditions to deepen the understanding of underlying mechanisms behind the generated static electricity, and to accelerate further improvements of cellulose’s triboelectric properties.
- Today, there are no scientific works internationally that highlight cellulose from this perspective, says Magnus Norgren. This means that the work at Mid Sweden University will place itself in the ultimate research front in the field. We expect to come forward with many interesting and important results needed to be able to use cellulose as energy generating material in commercial applications.
Cellulose is a renewable raw material found in almost everything that grows on land and in the oceans. Forest is the most important raw material for cellulose in Sweden, but for these applications, the cellulose could still come from many recycled materials, agricultural residues or from sea plants and algae. The relatively unknown properties of the cellulose that will be investigated in the project may give cellulose completely new uses. The research team has found in the lab that electrical power generated from cellulose can turn on lights. The hope is to eventually create triboelectric applications with cellulose that harvest electrical energy and power sensors and other small electronics.