Kerstin Forsberg

Kerstin Forsberg is professor in chemical engineering with expertise in separation processes, in particular crystallization. The knowledge is often applied in projects concerning recovery of resources from waste streams (e.g. spent batteries, pickling acid, red mud) or to investigate phenomena connected to the transport of pollutants (e.g. mobility of radionuclides).

My primary research interest is:

• Novel and established crystallization techniques and approaches.

I have been active as an independent researcher focusing on crystallization of inorganic materials and resource recovery at KTH since 2010. My PhD thesis focused on how membrane technology and crystallization can be combined for the recovery of metals from spent pickling acids. After a short postdoc focused on crystallization in the pharmaceutical industry and microreactor technology I joined KTH as an assistant professor in 2010. Since then, I have focused on developing fundamental knowledge of crystallization processes through research projects, primarily exploring battery recycling (NiMH and LiB), recovery of critical raw materials from red mud (Sc and V), recovery of phosphorous and rare earth elements from apatite concentrates, and recovery of rare earth elements from magnet waste. Some work has also focused on synthesis of metal organic framework particles and composites, mobility of radionuclides and adsorption.

Commissions of trust

• Editor, Sustainable Materials and Technologies, SM&T, 2023.12 – 2026.12
• Director for the strategic partnership between KTH and IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, 2022.07 –
• Member of the board, KTH Climate Action Centre, 2025.01 –

News

Happy to present about REE use and recycling at Jernkontoret, April 25th (LINK)

Happy to present at the seminar Circular Water Solutions for Sustainable Industry, May 7th, at IVA Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Conference Center (LINK)

Honored to give a plenary lecture at the Annual Conference of the British Association for Crystal Growth BACG 2025 in Leeds, 1st - 3rd July 2025. (LINK)

Projects

Project leader (at KTH)

Recycling of blended cathode materials, STEM, 2024.12- 2027.22, postdoc to be recruited. Collaborator Reza Younesi at Uppsala University.

Crystallization in Closed Loop Recycling of Battery Materials, WISE, 2025- 2030, PhD student recruited.

MSA-based circular hydrometallurgy for sustainable, cost-effective production of NMC cathode materials (CICERO), Horizon Europe, 2023.11- 2027.11.

Eutectic freeze crystallization in battery recycling, Formas, STEM and KTH, 2020.08- 2026.12.

New Crystallization Methods for Resource Recovery, collaboration with University of Cape Town (PI Prof. Alison Lewis), STINT, 2020.01- 2025.12.

In collaboration

Upscaling tools for energy efficient recovery of Ni, Co and Mn recovery from battery electrodes, STEM, 2023.09 - 2026-04. (Christophe Duwig)

Sorption of Se, Mo and Tc to cement under reducing conditions, SKB, 2023.12- 2025.12. (Mats Jonsson)

Controlled crystallization of rare earth elements from deep eutectic solvents for recycling of permanent magnets, Formas, 2023.01- 2025.12. (Michael Svärd)

Selected academic assignments

• Chair (elected), Hydromet. and Electromet. Committee, Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2023.3 – 2025.3

• Program director, MSc program in Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment, KTH 2019.7 – 2022.12

• Member, KTH CBH school docent committee, 2022.05- 2024.12

• Examination committee member/ opponent for PhD defenses at:
  Monash University (Australia), University of Queensland (Australia), University of Toronto (Canada), Cairo University (Egypt), Aalto University (Finland), Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT (Finland), University of Lorraine (France), University of Rouen Normandy (France), University of Toulouse (France), RWTH Aachen (Germany), Indian Institute of Technology IIT (Indian School of Mines) in Dhanbad (India), Indian Institute of Technology IIT in Roorkee (India), University of Iceland (Iceland), Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU (Norway), University of Oslo (Norway), Stellenbosch University (South Africa), University of Cape Town (South Africa), Chalmers University (Sweden), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Luleå University of Technology (Sweden), Lund University (Sweden), Stockholm Univeristy (Sweden), Uppsala University (Sweden).

• Member of the organising committee:
  An EPD Symposium Honoring Fiona Doyle and the Rare Metal Extraction & Processing symposium at TMS 2025 (Las Vegas), Responsible Lithium Production for Energy Transition and Electric Mobility RELiTE 2024 (Jujuy, Argentina), the Rare Metal Extraction & Processing symposium in USA at TMS 2024 (Orlando), TMS 2023 (San Diego), TMS 2022 (Anaheim), TMS 2021 (on-line), TMS 2020 (San Diego), the 28th International Workshop on Industrial Crystallization, BIWIC 2023 (Stockholm) and the Recovering the Unrecoverable Symposium as part of REWAS 2022 (Anaheim).

• Member of the scientific committee:
  15th European Congress of Chemical Engineering ECCE 2025 & 8th European Congress of Applied Biotechnology ECAB 2025 (Lisbon), The 30th International Workshop on Industrial Crystallization BIWIC 2025 (Tianjin), IX International Congress, Engineering, Environment and Materials in Process Industry EEM 2025 (Bijeljina), 13th European Metallurgical Conference EMC 2025( Hamburg), XVI International Mineral Processing and Recycling Conference IMPRC 2025(Belgrade), The British Association for Crystal Growth's Annual Conference BACG 2024, (Loughborough), BIWIC 2024 (Delft), the Green Deal Conference 2024, (Nancy), BIWIC 2023 (Stockholm),the International Conference on Raw Materials and Circular Economy, RawMat 2023 (Athens), BIWIC 2022 (Espoo), RawMat 2021 (Athens), and the 3rd European Rare Earth Resource conference ERES 2020 (online).

• Member of advisory committee:
  The International Conference on Sustainable Nanomaterials Integration and Organization for Energy and Environment, iSNIOE2 2024, (Delhi NCR), the International Conference on Science, Technology and Applications of Rare Earths ICSTAR 2024 (India), the ATALANTE2024 conference (Avignon).