The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, located in Ghent, is an open innovation pilot facility with a market focus on building block chemicals, food and feed ingredients, nutraceuticals, flavors, fragrances, enzymes, plant protections agents and many more. With its 75 employees, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant assists companies by bridging the gap between laboratory research and industrial production, and supports the bio-based economy by development, optimization and scale up of bio-based processes and products.
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Profile:
At the moment we still have 2 internship positions for the academy year 2019-2020:
Requirements are:
- You are studying for a degree in bio-engineering or related (bioprocessing, chemistry, biotechnology, cell- and gene technology)
- some experience with bacterial, yeast or fungal hosts is an asset
- some relevant experience with biocatalytic processes for the production of chemicals, food ingredients or cosmetics is an asset
Activities:
We currently have 8 interns working on these 7 internship topics , see description below.
Topic 1 - Development and scale-up of the fermentative production of 2,3-butanediol
This internship is part of the SPICY project, aiming to provide the chemical industry with new or optimized processes to convert sugars into added value compounds, i.e. both drop-ins and novel biobased chemicals. The research will be focussed on the fermentative production of 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) using state of the art microbial cell factories, as well as the isolation of the produced 2,3-BDO. Indeed, apart from its use in the production of butadiene, esterification of 2,3-BDO yields precursors of polyurethane foams for use in drugs, cosmetic products, lotions, ointments and antiperspirants. Hence, 2,3-BDO has gained interest as a platform molecule over the past decade.
During this internship, several state of the art cell factories (custom engineered by project partners) will be evaluated for the production of 2,3-BDO. Hence, the optimization of fermentation conditions such as medium composition, pH, temperature, feeding strategies, oxygen consumption,… will be studied. Moreover, the fermentation strategy will be developed with the subsequent downstream purification (DSP) in mind. Both the fermentation and DSP (which will include amongst others centrifugation, extraction and membrane technology) will also be scaled, to yield kg quantities of purified 2,3-BDO for application testing.
This internship takes place at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant vzw (BBEPP), a non-profit SME that assists companies and research groups to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial implementation of their innovations. The services BBEPP provides include: process development, scale up, techno-economic assessment, process optimization and custom manufacturing of first-series compounds.
Topic 2 - In situ product recovery of muconic acid: process development and scale up
This internship is part of the SPICY project, aiming to provide the chemical industry with new or optimized processes to convert sugars into added value compounds, i.e. both drop-ins and novel biobased chemicals. The research will be focussed on the fermentative production of muconic acid (MA) using state of the art microbial cell factories, as well as the in situ product recovery (ISPR) of the produced MA. Indeed MA, a high value-added bio-product with reactive dicarboxylic groups and conjugated double bonds, has garnered increasing interest owing to its potential applications in the manufacture of new functional resins, bio-plastics, food additives, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
Recently, a state of the art cell factory has been custom engineered by project partners. The latter strains will be evaluated for the production of MA. Hence, the optimization of fermentation conditions such as medium composition, pH, temperature, feeding strategies, oxygen consumption,… will be studied. The fermentation strategy will be developed with the in situ product recovery of MA in mind. Several techniques, such as the use of resins, solvents, membranes, and combinations of the above techniques will be applied. Finally, the fermentation with ISPR will be scaled, to produce kg quantities of MA for application testing.
This internship takes place at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant vzw (BBEPP), a non-profit SME that assists companies and research groups to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial implementation of their innovations. The services BBEPP provides include: process development, scale up, techno-economic assessment, process optimization and custom manufacturing of first-series compounds.
Topic 3 - Process development for the conversion of CO2 to value-added chemicals
This internship is framed within the CO2PERATE project, and aims to convert CO2 to value added chemicals such as Single Cell Protein or polyhydroxybutyrate via gasfermentation. Typically hydrogen is also required as energy sources, resulting in potential explosive gas mixtures. Alternatively, formic acid, previously converted starting from CO2 by project partners, will be used as carbon and energy source. Hence, this research will be focused on comparing direct (using different gas mixtures such as H2 and CO2), and indirect gas fermentation (using formic acid) for the production of valuable chemicals. Comparing the performance of this strategy with direct gas fermentation is of great interest, as the latter strategy avoids the use of explosive gas mixtures.
Therefore, the performance of different strains will be evaluated under a wide range of process conditions using design of experiments. Moreover, experiments will be performed to identify optimal fermentation parameters by varying media composition, pH, temperature, partial gas pressures, feeding regimes,… The majority of these experiments will be performed in state of the art custom built 1L pressure reactors, while some fermentations will also be scaled to 10L.
This internship takes place at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant vzw (BBEPP), a non-profit SME that assists companies and research groups to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial implementation of their innovations. The services BBEPP provides include: process development, scale up, techno-economic assessment, process optimization and custom manufacturing of first-series compounds.
Topic 4 - Methanol to single cell protein: an alternative to feed our planet
Single-cell protein (SCP) has potential for feeding the ever-increasing world population. Indeed, this high quality protein, which is derived from microorganisms such as yeast, fungi, and bacteria, is a valuable source for human food supplements and animal feeds. Moreover, as SCP is derived from microbial fermentation, it can conveniently be scaled. The latter technology has for example been demonstrated in the late 70’s by Imperial Chemical Industries, producing SCP using methanol as carbon source at 600 mt scale.
In contrast to the technology developed in the past, this project focusses on the production of SCP using green MeOH (obtained by the conversion of green hydrogen and CO2 from industrial waste gasses) and green NH3 (obtained by using green hydrogen). Hence, the production of SCP would be decoupled from fossil feedstocks.
This internship takes place at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant vzw (BBEPP), a non-profit SME that assists companies and research groups to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial implementation of their innovations. The services BBEPP provides include: process development, scale up, techno-economic assessment, process optimization and custom manufacturing of first-series compounds.
Topic 5 - Downstream process optimization of depolymerized lignin to lignin oil (Falcon project)
Falcon is a project funded by the EU that aims at turning the lignin-rich industrial waste stream from second generation biofuel plants into higher value products, such as marine fuels, fuel additives and chemical building blocks. The scope of this internship is to define and optimize a downstream process protocol on which the lignin oil obtained can be used as a marine fuel.
Topic 6 - Optimisation of PHB fermenation from agrofood waste streams (Newpack project)
PHB is a biopolymer that has similar characterises as PE. This biodegradable polymer is accumulated in the cells of some bacteria. The scope of this internship is to validate the growth (at SF and 150 L Fermenter scale) and productivity of PHB on different types of agrofood waste streams (pe potato peel hydrolysate, corn residue, whey, molasse and etc) and to optimise media composition taking into account seasonality of these feedstocks.
Next to this work will be done to optimise the pre-treatment and down-stream processing schematics per waste stream.
Topic 7 - SMARTBOX: Selective Modifications of ARomatics through Biocatalytic Oxidation (available Feb-June 2020)
An important strategy to combat climate change is the use of biomass as carbon-neutral feedstock in the chemical industry. A striking example of a biobased product is FDCA, advocated as a green alternative for fossil-based terephthalic acid. FDCA can be used as building block for the production of PEF, a polymer displaying better barrier properties than the widely used PET. This feature has created interest from major industrial players, such as Coca-Cola or Danone. Recently, an enzyme was discovered that is capable of catalyzing all 3 oxidation steps to synthesize FDCA. This enzyme was then engineered to improve the conversion degree to >95% at lab scale.
In this internship, the enzyme will be used for the development of an industrial process, applying bioprocess engineering principles as most important tool. The reaction conditions (substrate concentrations, pH, etc.) will be optimized through a Design of Experiments. The reaction will then be demonstrated at small pilot scale, and the resulting product medium used to develop an efficient downstream purification of FDCA. This internship will be performed at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in the frame of a European project.
Proposal:
We offer a dynamic, international and young working environment and a full learning experience. You are based at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, situated in the port of Ghent in Belgium.
The internship runs for a minimum of 4 months fulltime to preferably a whole academy year fulltime.
