Maria Sol Malizia

With the global quest for sustainability, there is a strong drive for developing bio-based alternatives to today's materials to replace fossil-based materials and provide future materials with new and advanced functionalities. One of the main challenges in this development is that for water-based fabrication processes of lignocellulosic material concepts, it is essential to remove water as efficiently as possible, striving at low energy demand, specifically for drying. This is a technical challenge. Successful processes/technologies should be characterized by low energy demand and reduced water demand during processing and follow the “principles of green chemistry”.

The project will study the interaction between water and lignocellulosic surfaces.  It will primarily be experimental and apply various state-of-the-art techniques, e.g. advanced scattering techniques using synchrotron light and neutron sources to elucidate the physical mechanisms controlling the water behavior.