CURRENT PROJECTS
HORIZON 2020 - FET-Open project - Co-PI
Super Bio-Accelerated Mineral Weathering: A new climate risk hedging reactor technology OBJECTIVE Conventional climate change mitigation alone will not be able to stabilise atmospheric CO2 concentrations at a level compatible with the 2°C warming limit of the Paris Agreement. Safe and scalable negative emission technologies (NETs), which actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere and ensure long-term carbon (C) sequestration, will be needed. Fast progress in NET-development is needed, if NETs are to serve as a risk-hedging mechanism for unexpected geopolitical events and for the transgression of tipping points in the Earth system. Still, no NETs are even on the verge of achieving a substantial contribution to the climate crisis in a sustainable, energy-efficient and cost-effective manner. BAM! develops ‘super bio-accelerated mineral weathering’ (BAM) as a radical, innovative solution to the NET challenge. While enhanced silicate weathering (ESW) was put forward as a potential NET earlier, we argue that current research focus on either 1/ ex natura carbonation or 2/ slow in natura ecosystem-based ESW, hampers the potential of the technology to provide a substantial contribution to negative emissions within the next two decades. BAM! focuses on an unparalleled reactor effort to maximize biotic weathering stimulation at low resource inputs, and implementation of an automated, rapid- learning process that allows to fast-adopt and improve on critical weathering rate breakthroughs. The direct transformational impact of BAM! lies in its ambition to develop a NET that serves as a climate risk hedging tool on the short term (within 10-20 years). BAM! builds on the natural powers that have triggered dramatic changes in the Earth’s weathering environment, embedding them into a novel, reactor-based technology. The ambitious end-result is the development of an indispensable environmental remediation solution, that transforms large industrial CO2 emitters into no-net CO2 emitters. |
PREBIOTIC CHEMISTRY The occurrence of organic molecules in meteorites indicate a fascinating range of chemistry taking place in space. In proto-stellar nebulae, on dust particles in dense or rarefied clouds, comets, meteorites, proto-planets and asteroids, homogeneous and heterogeneous phase organic chemistry takes place and some of the reactions are relevant to the research on origin of life. Such prebiotic chemistry in space may have had an impact on the onset of life on Earth and possibly also elsewhere. Our project aims to investigate the amino acid polymerisation with an iron, nickel phosphide meteorite as a catalyst under anaerobic conditions. Collaborators: University of Glasgow PREBIOTIC CHEMISTRY IN SPACE - PI
The occurrence of organic molecules in meteorites indicate a fascinating range of chemistry taking place in space. In proto-stellar nebulae, on dust particles in dense or rarefied clouds, comets, meteorites, proto-planets and asteroids, homogeneous and heterogeneous phase organic chemistry takes place and some of the reactions are relevant to the research on origin of life. Such prebiotic chemistry in space may have had an impact on the onset of life on Earth and possibly also elsewhere. Our project aims to investigate a subset of the possible prebiotic reactions focusing the attention to the mineral phase contribution in the synthesis of complex molecules, the next building blocks of life. In particular the hydrocyanation of small alkenes on mineral based FeNi surfaces as found on meteorites are used as reaction model to introduce chemical complexity. The project has relevance to prebiotic chemistry in space, on early Earth and other terrestrial bodies. Collaborators: University of Memphis Ångström Laboratory, UU LIPID BIOMARKERS IN SERPENTINITES According to the NASA Astrobiology Roadmap (Des Marais et al., 2008), a biosignature is, “an object, substance and/or pattern whose origin specifically requires a biological agent”. When preserved in rocks, these patterns may be expressed as chemical, morphological, mineralogical, or isotopic signatures of life that, under certain conditions, may be preserved over geologic timescales. Understanding the fossil preservation potential of different environments are crucial for our search for the earliest, preserved life on Earth or in selection of suitable landing sites on Mars. Our research has shown that extraction and analyses of methanogenic lipid biomarkers in serpentinites is a reliable method to investigate both live and fossilized microbial life in ancient rocks. This project is a collaboration between Utrecht University, the Netherlands as well as Okayama University, Japan and University of Calgary, Canada, where we analyze for preserved lipid biomarkers in ultramafic, mafic rocks as a goal to study biomarkers in ancient rocks on Earth or beyond. We hope to contribute in developing new biosignature detection methods and strategies in order to probe ancient Earth and Mars-analogue materials for signs of preserved methanogenic organisms using signature lipid biomarker (SLB) analysis. Collaborators: University of Calgary, Canada Utrecht University, The Netherlands Okayama University, Japan |
Black shales and nickel This project is divided into two parts, where one part is to map black shales in northern Sweden and the other part is to analyse stable nickel isotopes of black shales from different ages (Proterozoic to Mesozoic). COST Action: Chemobrionics CA17120 – Swedish member The aim of this CBrio Cost action is to link research groups throughout Europe to stimulate new, innovative and high-impact interdisciplinary scientific research on chemobrionics. Our objective is to build bridges between the various communities to allow understanding and controlling physical, chemical, and biological properties of self-organized precipitation processes. This integrated fundamental knowledge will be shared with research groups focusing on specific applications to boost new technological developments, as well as with groups involved in the popularization of science and those at the interface between science and the arts. The Development of Innovative Methods for Exploration and Mining of Graphite Deposits in Turkey/ InnoExpMining-G – Swedish member Collaboration with Turkey, Romania and Italy on Exploration of Graphite deposits. PELE - the Planetary Analogs & Exobiology Lava Tube Expedition https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330244030_PELE_the_Planetary_Analogs_Exobiology_Lava_Tube_Expedition The aim of this CBrio Cost action is to link research groups throughout Europe to stimulate new, innovative and high-impact interdisciplinary scientific research on chemobrionics. Our objective is to build bridges between the various communities to allow understanding and controlling physical, chemical, and biological properties of self-organized precipitation processes. This integrated fundamental knowledge will be shared with research groups focusing on specific applications to boost new technological developments, as well as with groups involved in the popularization of science and those at the interface between science and the arts. |