Bio-based materials at large scale research infrastructures

A bio-based economy is an important part of creating a sustainable society. New technology is needed, a new way of producing and consuming to solve the world's climate challenge. Our impact on the climate is greatly diminished when we exchange products of fossil raw materials and energy for bio-based alternatives. Bio-based materials from, for example, the forest, sea or agricultural residues provide the opportunity to create products made from locally grown raw materials. Substances that are found in wood and plants can be used for much more than building houses and making paper. Other uses for bio-based materials are, for example, bio-based textile fibers, bio-composites in the automotive industry, fully recyclable packaging solutions, additive manufacturing as well as health and hygiene.

Research on bio-based materials and its manufacturing processes can be developed to contribute to a future sustainable society. The use of synchrotron and neutron radiation provides unique opportunities for advanced material characterization and the ability to follow complex processes in real time. A tailor-made combination of experimental techniques provides unique opportunities to solve research questions on biocomposites, nanocellulose, wood dissolution, pulping process, fiber structure and fiber bonding. In studies of hierarchical materials such as wood, which have important structures on many different length scales, simultaneous structural characterization from atomic to macroscopic length scales is needed.