My PhD project is focusing on developing lignin-based carbon materials using a technique called spark plasma sintering (SPS) (also sometimes called field assisted sintering technology (FAST)) as an ultrafast carbonization method. Carbon materials play an important role in our society because of the various properties of carbon. A challenge is that most commercial carbon materials originate from fossil-based precursors, and it is necessary to develop renewable alternatives. The reason why lignin is interesting for making carbon materials is because it comes from biomass (renewable resource) and consists of an amorphous network of aromatic building blocks, which also makes it high in its carbon content (>60%). In addition, lignin is abundant, and around 70 million tons are isolated each year from the paper- and pulp industry, but most of the lignin (>98%) is burned to produce energy. However, the view of lignin as a byproduct is changing, and scientists are developing new materials ranging from adhesives to carbon materials. One of the most common ways to make lignin-based carbon materials is by pyrolysis, which is when you heat the lignin to high temperatures in oxygen-poor atmosphere, and you get what is often referred to as “hard carbons” which is a more condensed disordered aromatic structure. The pyrolysis is often performed in furnaces where slow heating rates are used, and the final carbonization temperature can be held up to several hours. This makes the whole process slow, and also energy consuming. This is the reason why we are investigating the use of SPS, because it is a method that can achieve ultrafast heating rates to high temperatures which can shorten the synthesis time significantly, and thereby might be more energy efficient.