Research
KTH Food Sustainability Network wants to map and visualize the research projects and initiatives at or in collaboration with KTH that connect to food and the network’s four areas of interest: Sustainable Food Production, Logistics & Consumption, Functional Food Products & Health, and Food Security & Circular Processes. If you are a researcher at KTH who would like your food-related project to be displayed on this page, feel free to fill in the form.
Sustainable Food Production
Centre for Future Seafood, Blue Food
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Uppsala universitet, SLU, Chalmers tekniska högskola, Göteborgs universitet, RISE, IVL and Innovatum Science Park
Blue Food aims to establish a national seafood centre with the goals of developing Swedish sustainable production of seafood and increase people's availability nation wide. A primary task is utilizing the catching of wild fish more efficiently as well as developing a modern aquaculture for fish, shellfish and algae in cooperation with some 70 partners.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Fredrik Gröndahl (ABE)
Website: Centre for Future Seafood, Blue Food
Cultivating city bazaars: sustainable urban cultivation
Organisations: 20 partners in total participate in the projects consortium
Cultivating city bazaars run innovation for sustainable urban development in Helsingborg, Landskrona and Stockholm. The unique cooperation has been developed by a consortium of cities, associations, academics as well as companies with the ambition of providing new, green workplaces and growing companies. The vision is about sustainable and integral neighborhoods through urban cultivation, which is a strong trend in large cities around the world.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Rebecka Milestad (ABE)
Website: Cultivating city bazaars: sustainable urban cultivation
HealthyGrowth
Organisations: Aarhus University, Denmark together with 12 international universities including KTH Royal Institute of Technology
In HealthyGrowth, eighteen mid-scale and four regional organic value chains are investigated in order to learn how they are able to combine values and increasing volumes. Managing specific challenges related to growth, Understanding success factors, Fostering cooperation and partnership in values-based food chains.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Rebecka Milestad (ABE)
Website: Healthy Growth
SLU Centre for Organic Food & Farming, Epok
Organisations: Epok works together with scientists, advisors, farmers, policy makers, industry, consumer organisations and students
SLU Centre for Organic Food and Farming (Epok) at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) works with collaboration, coordination and information on organic agriculture research in a Swedish, Nordic and international perspective. Epok is a resource for the entire SLU for communications with the outside world and to coordinate and initiate research and education.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Rebecka Milestad (ABE)
Website: SLU Centre for Organic Food & Farming, Epok
System analysis of biochar production and use in Swedish urban and rural areas
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm Stad, Trafikkontoret, Fortum Värme, Stockholm Vatten och Avfall, Uppsala Kommun, Lantbrukarnas Riskförbund (LRF), Lindeborgs Gård
The research aims at modelling the impacts of biochar production and use in the Swedish context, through the development of a systematic methodological framework and its application to three case studies.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Cecilia Sundberg (ABE) , Elias Azzi (ABE)
Website: System analysis of biochar production and use in Swedish urban and rural areas
Logistics & Consumption
Biochar on smallholder farms in Kenya
Organisations: The project is a transdisciplinary collaboration between researchers in Kenya (IITA, ICRAF and CIFOR) and Sweden (KTH, SLU and Lund University).
The production and use of biochar in 150 smallholder farming households in three different regions in Kenya is investigated in this project.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Cecilia Sundberg (ABE)
Website: Biochar on smallholder farms in Kenya
Building state-of-the-art (SotA) supermarket: Putting theory into practice
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology together with 10 industrial project partners
This project will apply the knowledge accumulated through the research in supermarket energy systems by building a unique demonstration case study where today’s most efficient, environmentally friendly and cost-effective supermarket will be designed, installed, monitored, thoroughly evaluated, and well documented. The heart of the certain supermarket is a carbon dioxide refrigeration cycle which provides heating and cooling with the minimum environmental impact. The project’s main goal is the proof that an environmentally friendly solution can be one of the most efficient solutions in the field of market and low temperature storage.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Samer Sawalha (ITM) , Sotirios Thanasoulas (ITM)
Website: Building state-of-the-art (SotA) supermarket: Putting theory into practice
Food Review - A systematic review of the scientific literature on digital interventions for more sustainable food consumption behaviour
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Deedster, Consupedia
This synthesis aims at investigating the current state of research regarding digital behavioral interventions to increase sustainability in the food sector, focusing on end consumers and large-scale food management. The area is very relevant and urgent today, since digital behavioral interventions is an area that has grown rapidly in recent years, but where no systematic research overview of this kind has yet been made in the area of sustainability.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Björn Hedin (ITM) , Daniel Pargman (EECS) , Elina Eriksson (EECS) , Cecilia Katzeff (ABE)
Finished in 2019
Website: Food Review
FRIDGE - Smart storage solutions in the fridge of the future to reduce food waste
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
In this project, we intend to focus on one of the most important areas of food waste, namely food that is thrown from refrigerators when not used in time. We intend to develop and evaluate cheap, smart storage containers for food to be used in existing refrigerators, combining non-technical solutions such as color coding, with cheap technical solutions such as RFID tags and QR codes, aimed at increasing "food supply awareness". The solutions will be developed in close collaboration with users, and evaluated longitudinally in Swedish households.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Björn Hedin (ITM) , Cecilia Katzeff (ABE) , Rob Comber (EECS)
Website: FRIDGE
KITCHEN - Designing digital technologies for supporting energy-related behavior change in the kitchen.
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Deedster, Consupedia
This project aims to design, develop and evaluate digital behavioral change tools to help households change energy and resource-intensive behaviors related to kitchen practices. The project is based on two major systematic research reviews on digital behavioral interventions on food and energy that we are currently undertaking. Unlike most studies in these reviews, we will base our solutions in behavioral change theory. We will mainly focus on the behavior change techniques "habit formation" and "goals and planning", which have the greatest potential. We will develop both physical IoT tools and purely digital tools.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Björn Hedin (ITM) , Elina Eriksson (EECS) , Miriam Börjesson Rivera(EECS) , Arjun Rajendran Menon (EECS) , Cecilia Katzeff (ABE) , Jarmo Laaksolahti (EECS) , Rob Comber (EECS)
Website: KITCHEN
Mistra Sustainable Consumption – from niche to mainstream
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Lund University, and Chalmers, in collaboration with academics from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Luleå Technical University, Karolinska Institute, Uppsala University and Statistics Sweden
A research programme that aims to stimulate a transition to sustainable consumption by generating in-depth knowledge on how niche sustainable consumption practices can become mainstream in the areas of food, vacation and furnishing.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Karin Bradley (ABE) , Åsa Svenfelt (ABE)
Website: Mistra Sustainable Consumption (external website)
Novel food delivery materials based on hemicelluloses
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Hemicelluloses are the second most abundant family of polymers in nature and represent an enormous hitherto almost unused renewable resource. Industrial utilization of hemicelluloses can contribute to move society from its petrochemical dependency into a sustainable economy. The project aims to demonstrate the usefulness and advantages of this renewable raw material to make barrier films for food packaging. The targeted demonstrator, barrier films for food packaging, closely links raw material processing with upgrading to high value polymeric materials.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Ann-Christine Albertsson (CBH)
Website: Novel food delivery materials based on hemicelluloses
Procurement for Sustainable Food Consumption
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Population growth and urbanization has led to an increase in resource intensive and energy rich foods, where the public sector accounts for a large share of food consumption. This research project analyses the criteria that can be used in public procurement to influence sustainability of food consumption and production.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Anna Björklund (ABE) , Michael Martin (ABE) , Elvira Molin (ABE)
Website: Procurement for Sustainable Food Consumption
Functional Food Products & Health
To be updated
Food Security & Circular Processes
A Bioengineering Approach for the Baltic Sea
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
This project aims to propose a sustainable solution to reduce the effects of eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and to recover phosphorus using bioengineering approaches.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Zeynep Cetecuioglu Gurol (CBH)
Website:
Creating Interfaces
Organisations: The project consortium includes 11 partners from Europe and North America, one of which is KTH Royal Institute of Technology
The project “Creating Interfaces” addresses capacity building for the urban food-water-energy (FWE) -nexus, making the FWE-linkages understandable to the stakeholders (city government, science, business and citizens), and facilitating cooperation and knowledge exchange among them. It will develop and test innovative approaches for local knowledge co-creation and participation through Urban Living Labs and Citizen Science approaches in three mid-size cities on water: Tulcea (Romania), Wilmington (USA) and Slupsk (Poland). Complemented by previous research and a citizen science toolbox, these labs comprise a user-defined co-creative approach, where research questions, problems, and solutions are decided and implemented with stakeholders themselves.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Rebecka Milestad (ABE)
Website: Creating Interfaces (external website)
Funguschain
Organisations: A unique consortium coordinated by BioDetection Systems B.V., The Netherlands (BDS), which consists of 16 partners from 10 different European countries, including research institutes (one of which is KTH Royal Institute of Technology) and 12 different companies that are leaders in biobased economies.
FUNGUSCHAIN will make use of new cascading processes to extract high value molecules from the fungal residue following the requirements of a range of end-users. A first extraction will yield antimicrobials & antioxidants, proteins, polyols and polysaccharides. Further processing will complete the value chain for delivering cleaning, food and plastic products. The remaining residues will be used for composting or biogas synthesis, thus closing the agricultural cycle.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Francisco Javier Vilaplana Domingo (CBH)
Marine bioeconomy for circular nitrogen and phosphorus flows in Sweden: Alternatives, hurdles and policy tools
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Anthesis, Tyréns and IVL
Circular flows of nitrogen and phosphorus are desirable for several reasons, though bioeconomy activities that provide this valuable externality may not be recognised, supported or encouraged for doing so. This project explores and compares current and future bioeconomy activities that can contribute to the recovery and reuse of nitrogen and phosphorus.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Jean-Baptiste Thomas (ABE) , Linus Hasselström (ABE)
Optimization of Agricultural Management for Soil Carbon Sequestration Using Deep Reinforcement Learning and Large-Scale Simulations
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Soil carbon sequestration in croplands has tremendous potential to help mitigate climate change; however, it is challenging to develop the optimal management practices for maximization of the sequestered carbon as well as the crop yield.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Zahra Kalantari (ABE)
Seafarm
Organisations: KTH in cooperation with Chalmers, Göteborgs universitet, Linnéuniversitetet, Lunds universitet and Formas
Seafarm is a research project where macro algae will be cultivated for a multitude of uses, including food, in a circular fashion where nothing is wasted.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Fredrik Gröndahl (ABE) , Ulrica Edlund (CBH) , Maria Malmström (ABE)
Finished in 2020
Website: Seafarm (external website)
Sustainable technology for the staged recovery of an agricultural water from high moisture fermentation products
Organisations: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology, HoSt, University of Twente, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Zaklad Przeksztalcania Odpadów Gac
Proposed concept is to treat solid waste residence from AD-anaerobic digestion by HTC following by pyrolysis process, the hydrochar generated from pyrolysis will be further modified as magnetic performance thus can be used to treat waste water. Proposed technology will be modular and transportable, i.e. technical design will include containerization of all of the modules.
Relevant researchers from KTH: Weihong Yang (ITM)