Published 2022-06-20

This post is also available in Swedish

Promoting the expansion of a safe, sustainable and green chemical industry

A childish fascination with colours, reactions and smoking glass flasks. Curiosity about molecules, cells and enzymes. An inspiring chemistry teacher at secondary school and an ambition to use this knowledge to create a sustainable future – this all paved the way for the career of Richard Lihammar, Programme Director of the Mistra SafeChem research programme.

Richard Lihammar is a project manager at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and the Programme Director of Mistra SafeChem. The goal of the research programme is to reduce exposure to hazardous substances and promote the expansion of a safe, sustainable and green chemical industry in Sweden. Starting in the design stage, the aim is to see the long-term effects of the chemicals that are spread in our society in order to avoid hazards to humans and the environment. In other words, exactly what Richard Lihammar wants to achieve and wishes that he had gained more knowledge about during his studies and his earlier working life.

Lihammar’s early interest in chemistry took firm hold. He started studying biotechnology and chemistry at LTH Faculty of Engineering at Lund University, where his interest in organic chemistry also grew and led him to embark on research studies at Stockholm University. His area of research was synthesis of organic compounds with the help of enzyme catalysis. This involves utilising nature’s catalysts – which normally build and break down molecules inside cells – in a laboratory or factory to create new chemicals to assist chemists’ work. This is an area that Lihammar wants to continue exploring and believes will grow substantially in coming years.

He started his working life at a small pharmaceutical company and subsequently pursued research in the chemical industry. At the same time, he wanted to use his knowledge to contribute to a better environment.

“When I worked in industry, I realised the impact that you have as a chemist when you create and develop new substances and materials,” Lihammar says. “Unfortunately, it was difficult to assess safety and sustainability during research and product development. Partly because little importance was attached to teaching how this could be done during my education in the academic world and in working life. This frustrated me and gave rise to many thoughts – did I make the right choice? Can what I work with entail future risks? How can it contribute to sustainable transition?”

It was at that point that the position at IVL became available, focusing on safe and sustainable chemicals right from within the design stage. The Mistra SafeChem research programme was launched in 2020. The fact that the programme began when the pandemic hit, contributed to a degree of upheaval and created new conditions for the partner companies. One major industry partner dropped out just before the programme launch, and the budget had to be revised – as did the plans for deliveries and assignments. Richard Lihammar has taken part since the start. He has worked in parallel with the former Programme Director John Munthe with the ambition of taking on the role, which he did this spring.

Companies collaborate

Mistra SafeChem’s goal is, with a lifecycle perspective, to create clean and efficient chemical processes that generate minimal residual products and waste. This involves increasing knowledge of and replacing toxic chemicals, reducing waste and increasing the scope to recycle materials. Within the programme, various disciplines work side by side – chemists, LCA experts and toxicologists – in academia, institutes and the business community. This requires extensive understanding of each other’s competence and perspectives, and training in the various fields took place during the first two years of the research programme.

The programme’s industry partners also represent substantial breadth in the field of chemicals; some of them create basic chemicals, others work with pharmaceuticals or toxic substances, and some companies use chemicals in their production processes. Automotive manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and the fashion and forestry industries under the same umbrella. A key to maintaining cohesion among the programme’s industrial representatives is the industry council that Lihammar coordinates together with Mistra SafeChem’s programme coordinator Hanna Holmquist and Magnus Johansson, a researcher at AstraZeneca. The aim of the industry council is for the companies to learn and support each other, share results and promote business issues.

“My years in industry have given me significant understanding of companies’ needs, challenges and possibilities; I believe that companies’ possibilities of harnessing the latest research findings can be more complex than we researchers sometimes realise,” Lihammar says. “In addition to taking new knowledge on board, they need to consider product development, market trends and regulations.”

Within Mistra SafeChem, researchers and industry partners are matched in various case studies and projects. Examples include a project evaluating the suitability of nickel as a catalyst instead of palladium, a second project reviewing alternatives for components that are to be phased out of make-up, and a third about how to extract chemicals from discarded textiles. Starting in the design stage, the fundamental aim is to work with hazards, risk assessments and LCAs to create sustainable alternatives from the outset. As development and application go hand in hand, direct feedback is provided that stimulates progress.

“A specific challenge is that the chemical industry, just like all other industry, has requirements and ambitions to transition to fossil-free production. This will involve new raw materials and in certain cases new production processes and products. The work on safe and sustainable chemistry must be integrated into this work to avoid creating new problems at the same time as managing the important climate transition.” 

“Baking Mistra SafeChem students”

DTU, the Technical University of Denmark, is part of the interdisciplinary consortium, and Lihammar says that, together with their working group, they have held training courses about life-cycle assessments for participants in the programme, which has substantially boosted the knowledge level. Mistra SafeChem has the long-term goal of developing a permanent research and innovation platform for green and sustainable chemistry in Sweden. The programme’s focus in the first phase spanning four years is innovation. If the programme receives funding for another four years, the intention is to step up the implementation and policy work.

“It’s fun to see that our work is in line with discussions about coming changes in regulations and legislation both in the field of chemicals and in circularity,” Lihammar says. “We’re also working on a review article about how our programme can strengthen the work on the chemicals strategy that was presented by the European Commission a couple of years ago. We want to be part of these conversations, show which tools are available and demonstrate how they can be implemented.”

Lihammar sees the chemicals issue as a key piece of the puzzle in a sustainable transition. He is also aware that there is widespread fear of chemicals and scepticism towards the industry as not enough happening in the area of chemicals.

“However, there are risks of moving too fast regarding governments, as that can lead to poor substitutions that do not improve the situation. We within Mistra SafeChem play a very important part in this respect, by combining the different fields of knowledge and gathering the different roles around the same table to share knowledge, inspiration and understanding,” Lihammar explains. “The programme’s work has really increased my own understanding. I have worked extensively with innovative syntheses and product development, but in my studies and my previous work I did not receive the opportunity to assess and analyse these innovations in the way that I now see we are on the way to developing.”

In order to fundamentally change the field and the sector, Mistra SafeChem has established a training component. A new Master’s programme in green and sustainable chemistry is now available at Stockholm University. The syllabus includes toxicology, environmental legislation and life-cycle assessment. The hope is to give the students the entire palette of knowledge that is required to enable the chemical industry to contribute to the transition of society.

“We’re now baking Mistra SafeChem students at Stockholm University,” Lihammar says with a smile. “Students who have this knowledge are worth their weight in gold; they will be in demand and a major force for propelling the change.”

Richard Lihammar

In my spare time: Being a parent of young children and a programme director means limited spare time. But I’m a wine geek who likes to go to wine tastings, on wine holidays and to unreasonably expensive restaurants for delicious meals. But I don’t always have to leave home to feel contentment; a perfect day would be me cooking food on the barbecue with family and friends while the children run around in the garden.

In five years: Nearly completed Mistra SafeChem’s second phase and hopefully have a great many good examples, tools and models that we can share with Swedish and international interested parties. We have laid the foundation for sustainable and safe use of chemicals and shown what is possible when different disciplines work together regarding materials and product development.

Dreaming of: Being able to sleep! With two young children, sleep is always in short supply.