Maria Sandberg

This postdoctoral project is based in the Environmental Chemistry group at the Department of Chemistry, Umeå University . The successful researcher will investigate how carbon and organic material can be recovered from hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) filtrates , with a particular focus on the formation of self-generated carbon (SGC) —low-ash carbon microspheres with promising surface and morphological properties for energy storage and environmental uses. The project examines a practical resource-recovery challenge: while HTC produces a carbon-rich hydrochar from wet residues, much of the carbon remains dissolved in the process water and is typically discarded. Here, the filtrate is treated as a resource rather than waste. The postdoctoral researcher will study what controls SGC formation and how the chemistry of the filtrate shapes the products that form spontaneously. The work is part of RE-FIL , a broader project that also explores microbial production of biodegradable plastics from the same filtrate stream in collaboration with Karlstad University . A key aspect of the research is therefore the interface between two recovery routes and whether they compete or can be combined. The postdoc will contribute to this by characterizing filtrates and products using chromatographic, spectroscopic, and microscopic techniques . The position offers access to the Trace Analysis Platform and the Vibrational Spectroscopy Core Facility , within a collaborative and international research environment. The main advisor is Prof. Stina Jansson , with Assoc. Prof. Maria Sandberg of Karlstad University as co-advisor. Some work may be carried out at Karlstad University.