Six projects are to receive Mistra´s Idea Support Grants. All six contain innovative elements and a high degree of audacity and creativity when it comes to devising solutions with the potential for solving environmental problems.
Unusal
Elizabeth Ness, who has a PhD in Chemistry and chairs the international assessment panel that reviewed the applications for Idea Support Grants, thinks that Idea Support is a unique form of funding.
‘This sort of grant is unusual, and it would be difficult to get approval from some other research funding provider for the ideas Mistra supports,´ she says.
Mistra has funded a total of 30 projects, providing some SEK 160 million, and Idea Support is now being discontinued. The 2007 call for applications was the last of its kind.
Elizabeth Ness thinks this is a good occasion to stop and evaluate Idea Support: ‘The concept is a good one, but we´d like to take stock in terms of research results and what the grants have meant to the individual researchers,´
Brave new ideas
One conclusion Mistra has already drawn is that Idea Support needs to be integrated better with Mistra´s other research programmes.
‘We haven´t managed to reach social science and humanities researchers to the extent we´d hoped either. But Idea Support has been able to support unusual initiatives and the researchers´ bold ideas. And that´s just the strength we want to go on fostering,´ says Ola Engelmark, Mistra´s Executive Director.
Six share SEK 30m
The six projects granted Idea Support are summarised below.
Fuel from the air
The purpose of this project is both to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide from vehicles and to solve the problem of how to store hydrogen gas. The idea is based on taking CO2 from the atmosphere and making it react with locally produced hydrogen gas. The reaction produces hydrocarbon, which can then be used as a motor fuel. In this way, vehicle owners could become self-sufficient by producing their own carbon-neutral fuel.
Project title: Fuel from the air: a study of a new concept
Grant awarded by Mistra: SEK 3.9 million
Contact: Bengt Steen, Chalmers University of Technology
Ecofriendly washing-machines
The aim is to design a washing-machine prototype for home use that cuts consumption of fresh water by 70%, reduces environmental impact by needing a smaller quantity of detergent for each washing cycle and brings down electricity use by 60% — without lowering the quality of the washing process. One central idea of the product is cut down the amount of water used by reusing water instead.
Project title: Clean development and demonstration: sustainable domestic washing — s´wash
Grant awarded by Mistra: SEK 6.0 million
Contact: Peringe Grennfelt, Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL)
Urban mind
Urban systems have come and gone through history and developed in different directions, depending partly to environmental changes. The purpose of the project is to obtain historical knowledge of the ‘urban transitions´ we now face, so that we know how to adapt to ongoing climate change. This knowledge is to be obtained through studies of the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire and comparisons with current studies in Africa, Eurasia and the Americas.
Project title: The urban mind: cultural and environmental dynamics
Grant awarded by Mistra: SEK 5.1 million
Contact: Paul Sinclair, Uppsala University
Universal primer
This project aims to develop an ecofriendly universal primer that will enhance the adherence of surface treatments to metal and plastic materials. The primer consists of a protein, MAP, derived from mussel adhesive. This adhesive sticks to all solid materials and is highly water-repellent. The protein also counteracts steel corrosion and can probably have the same effect on several other metals.
Project title: Universal primer with anticorrosive properties for all types of metals and plastic materials
Grant awarded by Mistra: SEK 5.3 million
Contact: Camilla Fant, Biopolymer Products AB
Mobile cleaning unit for farms
The purpose of the project is to develop a mobile ‘pyrolysis unit´ that, in combustion, converts organic waste from agriculture, forestry, parks, gardens, etc into charcoal. Through this process, carbon is prevented from entering the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Instead, the carbon is bound in the charcoal, which is then used for soil improvement: both the fertility of the soil and its capacity for water absorption increase, while nutrient leaching decreases.
Project title: A mobile pyrolysis unit for carbon sequestration and fertilizer production
Grant awarded by Mistra: SEK 5.8 million
Contact: Lars Hylander, Uppsala University
Lignin-based wood glue
The commonest wood adhesives used at present are based on petroleum and formaldehyde — two components known to have injurious effects on the environment and human health. The purpose of the project is to develop a wood glue based on lignin, a natural substance from young plants that is a cheap, ecofriendly and renewable resource.
Project title: Lignin-based, formaldehyde-free wood adhesives
Grant awarded by Mistra: SEK 4.5 million
Contact: Rajni Hatti Kaul, Lund University