# Kenneth Möllersten

Kenneth Karl Mikael Möllersten (born 6 November 1966) is a Swedish researcher. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering and an MSc in mechanical engineering, from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden and completed his postdoctoral training at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Vienna. Möllersten is a consultant and researcher at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, was previously affiliated as a researcher with Mälardalen University and is currently affiliated with KTH.
Möllersten was one of the originators of Bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), a technology capable of generating negative emissions. His prominent work in this area contributed to the first peer-review article presenting BECCS in 2001 as well as the original proposal for globally net-negative carbon dioxide (CO$_2$) emissions as a climate risk management strategy, a proposal in 2004 to use carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to bring back atmospheric CO$_2$ to pre-industrial levels, and several of the earliest studies that model the integration of BECCS in global greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement strategies. In 2002, Möllersten's PhD thesis introduced the concept of "carbon-negative production", proposing that it should be included in R&D portfolios, thus expanding available options for industrial carbon management. Subsequently, Möllersten made further contributions to the early conceptual development of negative emission technologies (NETs) as one of the original proponents of the utilization of biochar for the combined carbon dioxide removal and soil enhancement.

## Selected publications

* Möllersten K, Yan J (2001). Economic evaluation of biomass-based energy systems with CO$_2$ capture and sequestration in kraft pulp mills -The influence of the price of CO$_2$ emission quota. World Resource Review 13 (4), 509-525.
* Obersteiner M, Azar Ch, Kauppi P, Möllersten K, Moreira J, Nilsson S, Read P, Riahi K, Schlamadinger B, Yamagata Y, Yan J, van Ypersele J-P (2001). Managing climate risk. Science 294 (5543):786-787.
* Möllersten K (2002). Opportunities for CO$_2$ reductions and CO$_2$-lean energy systems in pulp and paper mills. Doctoral thesis, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.
* Möllersten K, Yan J, Moreira JR (2003). Potential market niches for biomass energy with CO$_2$ capture and storage - Opportunities for energy supply with negative CO2 emissions. Biomass and Bioenergy 25 (3):273-285.
* Möllersten K, Yan J, Westermark M (2003). Potential and cost-effectiveness of CO$_2$ reductions through energy measures in Swedish pulp and paper mills. Energy 28 (7):691 - 710.
* Möllersten K, Chladná Z, Chladný M, Obersteiner M. Negative emission biomass technologies in an uncertain climate future. In: Warnmer S F (Ed) Progress in biomass and bioenergy research, pp. 53–100. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., NY, 2006. ISBN 1-60021-328-6.
* Azar Ch, Lindgren K, Larson ED, Möllersten K (2006). Carbon capture and storage from fossil fuels and biomass – Costs and potential role in stabilising the atmosphere. Climatic Change 74 (1-3): 47–79.
* Azar Ch, Lindgren K, Obersteiner M, Riahi K, van Vuuren D, Michel K, den Elzen M, Möllersten K, Larson E (2010). The feasibility of low CO$_2$ concentration targets and the role of bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Climatic Change 100(1):195-202.
* Möllersten K, Grönkvist S (2007). All CO$_2$ is equal in the atmosphere – A comment on CDM GHG accounting standards for methane recovery and oxidation projects. Energy Policy 35 (7):3675–3680.
* Möllersten K, Gao L, Yan J (2006). CO$_2$ capture in pulp and paper mills: CO$_2$ balances and preliminary cost assessment. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 11 (5-6):1129-1150.
* Grönkvist S, Möllersten K, Pingoud K (2006). Equal opportunity for avoided CO$_2$ emissions: a step towards more cost-effective climate change mitigation regimes. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 11 (5-6): 1083-1096.
* Yan J, Obersteiner M, Möllersten K, Moreira J.R. (Editors) (2019). Special issue on Negative Emission Technologies. Applied Energy 255:1-3.
* Zetterberg L, Johnsson F, & Möllersten K (2021). Incentivizing BECCS – a Swedish case study. Frontiers in Climate 3:685227.
* Dufour M, Möllersten K, Zetterberg L (2024). How to maintain environmental integrity when using state support and the VCM to co-finance BECCS projects - a Swedish case study. Frontiers in Environmental Science 12:1387138.
* Möllersten K, Dufour M, Ahonen H-M, Spalding-Fecher R (2024). Demystifying carbon removals in the context of offsetting for sub-global net-zero targets. Carbon Management 15(1):2390840.