Dan Bergström

My field of research spans over a broad spectra of the forest biomaterials (wood and biomass) value chain; from forest management and silvicultural technology and operations, sustainability in management, wood and biomass harvesting and feedstock supply, logistics, technologies and systems for measuring biomass quality and quantity properties, wood and biomass storage management, biomass upgrading/processing systems, fuel production and energy conversion technologies. I see myself as a generalist, even though I’m known to be an R&D specialist of novel and effective thinning- and supply systems for young dense boreal thinnings and whole small tree harvesting in general.

My strength as a researcher do not lie in a total mastering of all the specific methods but to understand their use, strengths, potential and possible combinations thereof. I very much enjoy supervising students in research work on all levels, and to me it is a great reward to see them develop and grow intellectually and as peers and of course to be able provide new knowledge to society.

Currently I am coordinating three research project, two within the BIO+ research program funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and the third within the Bio4Energy platform. In the project “Management of young dense forests and harvesting of biomass for bioenergy while sustaining high biodiversity, social values and sustainability indexes” (2024-2027, 11MSEK) the overall aims are to solve some of current conflicts between forest owners and reindeer herders around young dense forest management goals on reindeer grazing lands, increase the potential of harvesting low value biomass in thinnings to supply society with biomaterials and bioenergy and increase knowledge of how precision management can contribute to reach sustainability goals. The project is interdisciplinary and is executed though research by and education of two doctoral students. I am the main supervisor for the PhD students. In the project “Efficient biofuel production and logistics at terminals and industry” (2023-2026, 16.6MSEK) the overall aim is to produce quality-assured knowledge that can be applied directly in practice and enables increased efficiency in the supply chain for, and resource utilization of, forest biomass fuels, thereby increasing the potential to substitute imported fossil fuels with domestically, sustainably produced biofuels. The project spans over the entire supply chain from transport of biomass for biofuel production to produced fuel for cogeneration of bioenergy. In the project I am also supervising a PostDoctoral researcher that currently is working on an extensive systematic literature with the specific aim to synthetize and evaluate existing research on utilizing techniques for monitoring GHG emission rates occurring during the storage of biomass fuels. In the project “Expansion of biorefinery feedstock supply by mobilization of woody residues from multifunctional silviculture treatments and marginal land operations” (2023-2025, 1.8MSEK) we aim to explore a broadening of the feedstock base to a selection of relevant processes (chemical and thermochemical), by investigating currently underutilized woody biomass residual assortments from the combined perspective of technical feasibility, feedstock economy, policy leeway, and synergies and conflicting values.