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Professor Liane Rossi, from the Institute of Chemistry (IQ) of USP and director of the Carbon Capture and Utilization Program (CCU) of the Greenhouse Gas Research and Innovation Center (RCGI), was honored with the King Carl XVI Gustaf Chair in Environmental Sciences. This recognition, granted by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Sweden, is one of the most prestigious honors in the field of environmental sustainability, and Liane Rossi is the 28th holder of the prestigious chair and the first researcher from Latin America to receive it.
“Being the first researcher from Latin America to receive this award is an immense honor, not just for me, but for all of Brazilian science,” highlighted Liane. “This opportunity allowed me a great exchange of experiences with researchers from Sweden and, in a way, made it possible for them to learn more about Brazil.”
The King Carl XVI Gustaf Chair was established in 1996, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Swedish monarch, with the goal of promoting research, technological development, and the sustainable use of natural resources. Funded by the King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 50-year Fund for Science, Technology and Environment, the Chair is awarded to one or two scientists per year, selected for their significant contributions to environmental sciences. The awarded researchers are invited to collaborate for up to a year with renowned Swedish universities, fostering international cooperation in environmental science.
Liane Rossi was nominated by the University of Stockholm, where she is conducting research in the Department of Organic Chemistry in partnership with Professor Belén Martín-Matute. In Brazil, she leads research projects that aim to convert CO 2 into fuels and chemicals, such as methanol, hydrocarbons and higher alcohols, within the CCU program of RCGI funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Fapesp) and Shell Brasil.
Research at RCGI focuses on one of the biggest challenges in emissions mitigation processes: the conversion of captured CO 2 through its hydrogenation, a catalytic process that transforms this gas into products such as green methanol, considered a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels. For methanol production from CO 2 to be efficient, the choice of catalyst and the precise adjustment of reaction conditions, such as temperature and pressure, are determining factors. The program led by Liane Rossi at RCGI has made progress in optimizing this process, with the goal of increasing productivity and sustainability in the catalytic conversion of CO2.
Liane Rossi began her stay in Sweden in 2023, when she spent three months in the country. In 2024, she returned in June and later in September, staying until the beginning of October. During this period, she visited and lectured in seminars at Swedish universities and participated in important scientific events, such as the celebrations of Nobel Prize week. In June 2024, she was received by King Carl XVI Gustaf at the Royal Palace in Stockholm to give the lecture Brazil’s CO2 Challenge: Pathways to a Low-Carbon Economy.
In a second meeting with the monarch, which took place on September 30, during a symposium held at University of Stockholm in honor of his career, Liane Rossi gave the lecture Catalytic Routes for CO 2 Conversion into Value- Added Chemicals and Fuels. In the end, she presented the king with a collection of works by Brazilian authors translated into Swedish, including books by Machado de Assis and Chico Buarque.
Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) and with a solid academic trajectory, Professor Liane has plans to further strengthen the collaboration between Brazil and Sweden. Among her future initiatives is the organization of a symposium in Brazil, which will bring together Swedish and Brazilian researchers to discuss central themes of their research. “I intend to organize this event in Brazil to continue promoting scientific cooperation; many Swedish researchers have already shown interest in participating,” she revealed..
Text: Press Office of RCGI
English version: Nexus Traduções
