Home » SWEDISH UNIVERSITIES ENGAGED IN SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH 2015 » Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm » Applied Electrochemistry, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2015

Applied Electrochemistry, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2015

Postal Address: Tillämpad Elektrokemi, Skolan för Kemivetenskap, KTH, SE-100 44 Stockholm
Visiting address: Teknikringen 44
Web page: https://www.kth.se/en/che/divisions/electrochem/

Contact person: Associate Professor Rakel Wreland Lindström, phone: +46 (0)8 790 6615.

Electrochemistry is about the interconversion between energy in chemical and electric form. It finds its use in direct production of electricity from a raw material, as in batteries and fuel cells, and for the production of chemical products and metals in electrolytic processes. It can also be used in sensors and other methods for chemical analysis. Many of the great problems and challenges that the world is facing are connected to how to get energy and how to use our resources in the best possible way, and it is very likely that new and improved electrochemical systems will play an increasingly important part in their solution.

Research connected to South Asia:

In November 2015, Dr. Wreland Lindström received SEK 1.11 m as a three-year (2016-18) Swedish Research Links grant, provided by the Swedish Research Council, for a Pakistan related project entitled ”Conversion of Organics in Wastewater to Bioelectricity using Microbial Fuel Cells”. The project has a Pakistani collaboration parter, Professor Robina Farooq (photo) from the Department of Chemical Engineering at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology in Lahore. 
Abstract: This project aims to develop a Microbial fuel cell (MFC) for efficient wastewater treatment in developing countries by enabling research exchange between KTH and COMSATS IIT in Pakistan. Increasing industrialization and population growth has overburdened land, air and water pollution. Developing countries, including Pakistan, rarely treat all wastewater, resulting in an exponential increase in water borne diseases especially among infants. It is thus, essential to find ways to efficiently treat organics from municipal as well as industrial waste, such as azo dyes. There is substantial energy in organic matter that is currently wasted in in the wastewater treatment, which in addition is a very energy demanding process. MFC Technology is an emerging field of research and has potential to reduce both sludge and energy costs in wastewater treatment, by the recovering of electrons from organic molecules, using bacteria as catalysts. The 3-year project will support the visits of Pakistani PhD-students and faculty at KTH. The group in Pakistan will contribute with identification and isolation of efficient exoelectrogenic bacteria, growth of biofilms and design of MFC and its process, while electrochemical characterization and optimization of cell, components and operation conditions will be done in Sweden. The development of MFC will ultimately enable a healthier population to emerge, which is a key factor for the economic growth of any nation.