As demand for renewable energy is increasing rapidly, the market for biomass pellets is expected to continue to grow in the near future. Most of the new raw materials that are discussed for pellet production have one thing in common; the production costs will increase compared to using traditional raw materials such as sawdust and planer shavings. The aim of this thesis is to investigate to what degree increased use of new raw materials for pellet production will affect the general pellet prices in Sweden and to survey what plans Swedish pellet producers have concerning new raw materials. To investigate the raw material situation of the Swedish pellet producers an industry survey was performed. Literature studies were also made on previous research in the subject field. Calculations of the production costs for pellets were done for the raw materials sawdust, wet sawmill chips and energy wood respectively. New raw materials are already used by the large-scale pellet producers in Sweden.

Product development is a risky business; many products never yield profit, but it is also ne-cessary for a company?s survival in a competitive business where the costumers change their requests constantly. Consumer-led product development is developed from the wish to fill the consumer?s needs and expectations and thereby be more likely to succeed. Lindell?s Gårdsslakteri AB is a local slaughter and meat processor in Västergötland.

Most of the saw and pulp industries have stored wood nearby their production, the main reason is to have a continuous wood flow to the production. Wet storage of wood is of great importance to keep the wood quality. Without water sprinkling the risk of Drying outand decomposition through biological activity increases significantly and will result in a negative effect on future production and quality. One drawback of wet storage of wood is the leaching of chemical substances into the surrounding recipient. The log yard run-off contains phosphorus, nitrogen, phenols and organic substances. These substances can cause problems for the surrounding environment. The main objective of this project is to gain an understanding of the wet storage used by the Swedish wood industry and estimate the environmental consequences that run-off water will have on the recipient.

The production of ferrochromium alloys at Vargön Alloys AB contributes to formation of unwanted ferrochromium dust, which contains toxic Cr(VI). The dust is since summer 2005 treated with an iron-sulphate solution to reduce Cr(VI) to the non-toxic Cr(III). A year later the treatment technique was improved and disposal occurs in cells on the landfill. The cells can be up to 300 m3 and the edges can be made out of fro example concrete. Tests are conducted on the treated dust when it is disposed.

Pomace is the solid remains (i.e. stems, pulp, seeds, and skins) after pressing for juice. The annual production of apple pomace is 593 000 ton worldwide. Its field of application depends on local conditions. In order to investigate the field of application of apple pomace in the Southern Sweden, six persons on companies with production of apple juice were interviewed.

Fukthantering är idag, trots god kunskap inom ämnet, ett stort problem inom byggproduktion då tunga betongstommar ska torkas ut under pressade tidsplaner. Det finns en uppsjö av beräkningsmetoder och hjälpmedel, exempelvis ByggaF och Torka S. Däremot finns inget enkelt sätt att kombinera uttorkning, energiåtgång och kostnader som är användbart i produktionen.Miljön är kanske ett av det här århundradets största samhällsproblem. Lokala brister kan få globala konsekvenser och för att bygga ett hållbart samhälle måste detaljnivån studeras. Byggbranschen är en stor energibrukare där stor vikt på energibesparingar läggs i förvaltningsskedet, medan det försummas i produktionsskedet.

Blast furnace is the heart of every steel plant. Steel production is based on the blast furnace process, as it is where the iron is extracted from the iron ore and turned into liquid iron, which will subsequently be used to make liquid steel. Therefore, without hot iron, steel can not be produced. Blast furnaces in this process are supplied among others with pulverized coal. Raw coal should be prepared for the blast furnaces in the form of fine coal powder.

Swedish sawmills of today suffer from unsatisfying economy with high costs and low benefits. The economical result depends on how well the sawmill can use their raw material. Iggesund Timber AB, a sawmill in the Holmen group, produces a large amount is enduse orientated products for the woodworking industry. Therefore the aim of this student thesis was to investigate the possibility of automatic enduse orientated quality grading of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) saw logs by using a gamma-ray log scanner. Iggesund Timber AB has the possibility to grade logs automatically with TINA, a two way gamma-ray log scanner. Grading and classification of Scots Pine logs in Sweden today are mainly manual but can in some rare cases be automatic.

Festulolium (Festulolium) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) has not been grown inSweden over a longer period. So far there is no greater area cultivated, but the area isincreasing. Festulolium and tall fescue are expected to eventually replace meadowfescue in many leyseed mixtures to dairy cows in southern and central Sweden. Tallfescue has in recent years become popular again. Festulolium is a hybrid betweenryegrass and fescue.

Huvudmålet med det här arbetet var att öka utbytet av första klassens ytterbeklädnad genom att förbättra torkprocessen. Delmålen var att undersöka hur torkprocessen på AB Hilmer Andersson fungerar idag och hur den kan förbättras så att bättre torkningsresultat och utbyten kan åstadkommas. Arbetet har utförts på AB Hilmer Andersson som är ett sågverk/hyvleri beläget i västra värmland. Slutprodukten som utbytet mättes på var finsågad rektangulär granpanel 19x148 sågad ur plankor med dimensionen 63x150. Arbetet påbörjades med intervjuer för att få reda på vad som är problematiskt med torkningen samt vilka torkskador som är de vanligaste på AB Hilmer Andersson.

There are a great possibility to shorten the time between mowing and preservation by spreading of ley crops in connection to the conditioning. In this case the cellular respiration (the plants breeding that consume sugar until the crop is ensiled) should not continue as long and the forage will perhaps get a higher nutritional value. The capacity of the next machine could also be higher because the rake gives swaths with a lot of material. There is also a possibility that spreading of ley crops gives the material a more homogeneous content of dry matter and that gives a reduced growth of clostridium. This is particularly important when the method of harvest doesn?t include any mixing of the material like it does with a round baler or silagewagon.

The Swedish agricultural sector is currently experiencing substantial structural changes, where the number of agricultural enterprises continuously decreases and the average farm size increases. In order to maintain competitiveness, it is important to be aware and adapt to changes concerning the surroundings of the company (Johnson et al., 2011). Agricultural commodity prices sharply fluctuate on the global market in recent years, affecting the profitability of farmers. High volatility market requires tools to reduce price variations and increases the need of decision-making (Bouder & Beth, 2003). Farm-based grain handling facilities increases the sale options regarding agricultural commodities; a flexible strategy to get additional compensation for the storing the grain produced on the farm (Edling, 2002; Edwards, 2013).

En utmaning under produktionen är uttorkning av byggfukt i byggnadens betongbjälklag. Om uttorkningen försenas kan golvbeläggningar inte appliceras i rätt tid, men att arbetet forceras är inte ett alternativ, då risken finns att fuktskador uppkommer under driftsskedet. Avgörande för att uttorkningen skall fortskrida enligt plan är att torkklimatet i byggnaden är gynnsamt för uttorkningsprocessen. För att kontrollera torkklimatet genomför företaget ett omfattande arbete genom att mäta klimatet, där dataloggar på olika platser i byggnaden registrerar luftens temperatur och relativa fuktighet. Tillsammans med trendmätningar i betong är tanken att insamlad data skall ge en bild av hur uttorkningen fortskrider.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) are great candidates for composite materials. The reasons why CNCs are such attractive materials for them are due to their great mechanical properties, high aspect ratio and low density. On the other hand, hydroxyapatite (HAp) is a kind of calcium phosphate and a main component of bones and teeth. The purpose of the present study is to make oriented nano-sized composites with CNC and HAp. Although some researchers carried out to make CNC composites with HAp for biomedical materials, nano-sized and oriented ones haven?t been achieved yet.

Storm water management has become a more important matter as urban areas are expanding and natural areas are being exploited. As nature landscapes are being converted into hard surface areas storm water flow is affected both in terms of velocity and size. A flow increase can easily result in a flooding if the dimensions of the pipeline system are inadequate. Considering predicted upcoming climate changes, flooding?s may become more common in urban areas in the future.