From school-weary pupil to professor – a journey through fire and ashes

When the school counsellor thought she should go on to a four-year technical course, that didn’t feel right at all.

“I wanted to get out and work as soon as possible," she recalled.

So she pursued a two-year assistant nurse programme, followed by several years in healthcare and later work in childcare when her own children arrived. But Anita is an energetic and curious soul and felt that it was time to make a change after her second child. Environmental topics were popular at the time, especially wind power.

“That was big in Denmark in the 90s, especially the wind power debate. In Sweden, there was hardly anything. I felt that I wanted to join that debate and that it was time to start studying again. But I've always had reading and writing difficulties and lacked some necessary subjects to be able to apply to university.”

Anita therefore started at Viskadalen's folk high school, just a short distance from home. She studied the equivalent of three years of upper-secondary school. She had chosen the computer programme to be able to keep up with the IT wave of the 90s. It gave her a taste for more studies and she applied for the Technical Foundation Year at the University of Borås. Thus began Anita Pettersson's academic journey.

Encouraged to try out the engineering programme Electric Power and Heat

“A teacher at the university encouraged me to pursue studies in engineering with a specialisation in electric power and heat after the foundation year programme. My studies went better than expected and I felt, well, why not continue?”

When the university started a Master's programme in energy and combustion technology, she jumped on board immediately. And before Anita had time to understand what was happening, she was offered a doctoral position. At the time, the university lacked doctoral education rights, so she was enrolled at Chalmers University of Technology. Her doctoral project was funded by the Knowledge Foundation and the City of Borås, and in 2008 she received her doctorate in combustion technology in 2008. Her doctoral project was about phosphorus recovery from ash from fluid bed incineration of sewage sludge.

“My colleagues jokingly called me Cinderella,” she recalled.

Her academic journey continued upward. Anita became an associate senior lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor and assistant professor – and now she can call herself Professor of Energy Engineering.

What does it mean to you to be a professor?

"I've actually had the same duties since 2019, but the title of professor is meaningful. It means I can sign research applications myself and that is a very nice feeling.”

Resources and ethical dilemmas

Anita's research focus is thermal processes: controlling the incineration of waste by adjusting fuel mix, time, and air supply.

"In ash, there are lots of interesting substances to recover. We have come a long way with the recovery of zinc and phosphorus, but many substances are still too expensive to recycle from waste.”

And this is where the ethical dimension comes in.

“It is not acceptable that much of the mineral mining takes place in low-income countries under conditions that we would never accept in Sweden. We don’t want to take people’s jobs from them, but the mines must meet higher standards.  Just as the EU wants to introduce requirements for product passports in order to be able to trace a product's journey from raw material to finished product and until it is fully used, we should have something similar for materials and substances that today originate from mining.”

From a small room to an advanced lab

When Anita started her studies at the university, there was only a small, simple lab for simple leaching experiments. Today, her research group Sustainable Energy and Thermal Processes has access to an advanced lab for a variety of experiments.

“We have an advanced energy lab with reactors, acid washes, a microwave oven to dissolve solid materials, and a lot of analysis equipment. On our wish list right now is an electromagnetic microscope and a BET instrument to be able to study biochar in the smallest detail. Those would be worth their weight in gold!”

Currently, Anita's research group is working with biochar from sewage sludge and other fuels. Through pyrolysis, biochar is created which, depending on its properties, can be used in everything from concrete and filter materials to soil improvement and instead of graphene in new batteries. The volatile parts of the fuel become combustion gases that can be used for combustion or chemical production.

What are you most proud of as a researcher?

“Personally, my journey through the school system with reading and writing difficulties until I became a professor. And in research, that we have implemented our research in zinc recovery together with Renova, the waste incineration plant in Gothenburg. We had students with us the whole way up until the pilot attempts – that was fantastic.”

What challenges do you see in the future in your research area?

“To win external research funding and to be at the forefront. Society’s economic situation controls a great deal, and some processes that we research and develop end up being put on pause, but with the right conditions in the future, the recovery of various valuable minerals and substances from ash will be of economic benefit for industry.”

What advice do you have for junior researchers?

“Follow your heart. Passion gives the best results.”

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Researcher Profile

Read more about the Sustainable Energy and Thermal Processes research group

Research area: Resource Recovery