Sessions

Disassembly of the recalcitrant wood tissue with a preserved structural complexity and good atom economy remains both a pre-requisite for and the main challenge of a sustainable biorefining. This session will dive into as well structural as processing hurdles of precise and resource efficient recovery of wood structures at the very cutting-edge of the biorefinery research.

This session highlights recent advances in understanding lignin’s structure, properties and potential as a source for functional materials. Experts will discuss progress in its molecular characterization, extraction, and functionalization, and how these developments enable new paradigms of functional materials based on renewable aromatics. Focus is on both fundamental and applied aspects.

Utilization of wood- and biomass derived polymers and chemicals as functional (macro)molecules is imperative for the transition to a green economy. Within this context, we here invite contributions focusing on green chemistry, catalysis, monomer synthesis, polymerization and materials in relation to wood and other biomass.

Wood-derived materials, nanocellulose for example, show a success for new materials design and present great potentials to fulfill the needs of a range of technologies beyond traditional applications. Preserving the nature designed unique wood structure could provide additional priority in terms of processing and structure control compared with bottom-up approach materials design. The session aims to discuss the possibilities of implanting wood for advanced materials and systems towards a sustainable future.

Polymer properties can be greatly improved by addition of reinforcement from cellulosic plant fibers. This session reports recent progress in biocomposites for sustainable development, fiber/matrix interfaces, nanocomposites, cellulosic fibers etc.

Enzymes can act as highly specific catalysts to both selectively deconstruct or modify biomass polymers, under green/non-toxic conditions. They are useful in both fundamental studies of polysaccharide structures and can further be used to functionalize biomass by introduction of new chemical functionalities. In this session, recent developments in biomass-related enzyme technology will be discussed with leading experts in the field.

There are no unifying theories for the description of the self-association and colloidal properties of anisotropic nanoparticles in gels and organized materials despite the fact that this process is controlling the bottom-up engineering of nanoparticle systems. The extra complexity added by the anisotropy of many nanoparticles poses further complexity to this description and demands both theoretical and experimental break-throughs. Since most of these systems carry a considerable charge it is also necessary to follow the theoretical development in polyelectrolyte theories. The purpose of the present symposia is to bring together world leading theoreticians and experimentalist to collect the state of the art of these systems and to create new contacts and co-operations as well as sharing recent theoretical and experimental results.

Water is ubiquitous in all cellulose based materials, both man-made and in nature. It has traditionally been seen as detrimental to material properties, for example by decreasing stiffness and causing poor dimensional stability. Recent research, however, promotes a view where water is an intrinsic structural component in cellulosic, and highlights a large array of positive effects that water has on material properties, which often stems from interactions on the molecular scale.

This session invites contributions showcasing the latest advancements in characterizing biomass-based materials and substances. Focusing on the application of e.g. spectroscopy, chromatography, or microscopy and other related techniques, we aim to explore innovative approaches for analyzing structure, properties, and processing features. The session will highlight both academic research and industrial applications, encouraging diverse insights into these powerful techniques.

This session explores the latest advancements in applying X-ray and neutron techniques to characterise fibre-based materials. The focus will be on sharing insights into how these tools are used to analyse forest-based polymers and materials. Presentations will cover polymer and material structure, properties, and processing, highlighting the possibilities of these techniques in advancing academic research and industrial applications.

Forest biopolymers and materials provide an array of appealing characteristics for the area of electronics and energy technology, including hierarchical structures on all length scales as well as chemical and electrochemical activity. This symposium will discuss how forest derived materials can be augmented with functional organic and inorganic materials and thus facilitate the design of electrical, electronic and electrochemical devices, including those for energy generation and storage, for sensing applications and for light emission.

Engineered living materials-ELMs’ is an emerging research direction that aims to harness the power of biology in materials science. Living biomass modifies existing artificial materials, produces new materials or induces dynamic, responsive and adaptive properties. This session will focus on the development, characterization and implementation of ELMs for sustainability.

Biobased origin is central to a future sustainable material economy; however, more than biobased is needed, and if these materials are not connected to circularity, we will face the same challenges with plastic waste as today. Within this context, we here invite contributions focusing on developing open- or closed-loop circular materials through innovative polymer chemistry by using biopolymers, platform molecules, dynamic chemistry, either separately or in combination.

Computer simulation encompasses a broad spectrum of techniques, operating across various scales – from electronic structure calculations and molecular dynamics to finite element methods for modeling macroscopic properties. What these methods have in common is that they form a ”digital microscope” that can look beyond what is possible using experimental techniques alone. This session focuses on the application of computational methods to study all aspects of biomass, including properties in its native state, during processing, and, not the least, the chemistry, physics and mechanics of bio-based materials.