Jennie Berglund, Fibre and Polymer Technology
Wood Hemicelluloses - Fundamental Insights on Biological and Technical Properties
Jennie Berglund will be defending her dissertation "Wood Hemicelluloses - Fundamental Insights on Biological and Technical Properties" on 1 February 2019.
What is your dissertation about?
It is about understanding how the structure of wood hemicelluloses influences their properties. Several aspects were considered and properties that are of both biological and technical importance such as interaction with cellulose, flexibility, stability, and solubility.
Does it have any connection to KTH’s sustainability work and the global sustainable development goals?
Yes. Hemicelluloses make up about 30% of wood, a renewable resource that can be used as a raw material replacing fossil based products. However, the hemicellulose fraction in wood has a large potential to be used in a better way. One global sustainability goal is “doing more and better with less” and research that could improve the usage of wood is therefore essential from an environmental perspective.
How can your results be used in the future?
Understanding the role between structure and properties of hemicelluloses is important for the development of new processes and products. Hopefully, the findings in this work can act as a basis for development of new hemicellulose applications. In addition, this work helps the biological understanding of the role of hemicelluloses in the plant cell wall.