HRO - Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

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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:

For 2020 all internship positions have been taken.

Below is a list of topics for which we have internship vacancies as of May 2021:

TOPIC 1 - Process development and scale up of the fermentative production of 2,3-butanediol: a crucial bioplastic precursor

This thesis research will contribute to the Flemish SPICY project, aiming to provide the chemical industry with new or optimized processes to convert sugars into added-value compounds. These include novel biobased chemicals as well as bio-derived equivalents to their current fossil-based industrial counterparts. 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO) is such a compound that has gained substantial interest as a platform molecule for a broad range of applications over the past decade. 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.

During this thesis, you will improve the fermentative production of 2,3-BDO, using the ever-improving state-of-the-art microbial cell factories (MCF) supplied by the project partners, as well as the isolation of the produced bio-2,3-BDO. You will be the key researcher for the evaluation of several of these 2,3-BDO producing MCF and the optimization of various fermentation conditions such as medium composition, pH, temperature, feeding strategies, oxygen consumption, etc.. Moreover, you will develop this fermentation strategy with the subsequent downstream purification (DSP) in mind. The main goal of this thesis will be to achieve a successful scale-up of both the fermentation and DSP (including amongst others centrifugation, extraction and membrane technology) to 150 L. This way, you will be able to obtain a representative amount of 2,3-BDO for application testing by the project partners.

You will perform your thesis in the industrial and stimulating environment of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant. BBEPP is a non-profit SME that assists companies and research groups to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial implementation of their innovations. BBEPP is equipped with all process and analytical tools to perform a high-quality master thesis in an industrial environment.

TOPIC 2 - Process development for the conversion of waste CO₂ into value-added chemicals

This Master Thesis is framed within the BIOCONCO₂ project, aiming to create value from waste CO₂ and therefore assisting in the world’s most imminent challenge: global warming. You will be part of the team involved in gasfermentation, a technology which makes use of micro-organisms to convert CO₂ into value-added chemicals. The fixation of CO₂ requires an energy source, most often in the form of hydrogen gas, which possibly results in the formation of explosive gas mixtures. Therefore, BBEPP invested in state-of-the-art gasfermentation vessels, each with a total volume of 1L, which enables the feeding of combinations of CO₂, H₂ and O₂.

The research will enclose a screening of several CO₂-converting microbial strains on the 100 mL scale. After selection of the best performing strain(s), experiments will be conducted in 1L gasfermenters. In this way, process conditions like pH, medium composition, partial gas pressures and gas flow rates will be optimized in order to improve cell growth, productivity, gas uptake rate etc. Some fermentations will also be scaled-up to mid-pilot scale, in a custom-built 10L gasfermenter.

The library of strains consists of two types of micro-organisms, utilizing different pathways for CO₂ incorporation: the acetogenic and the so-called knallgas bacteria. Both require a different approach for cultivation and more importantly have a distinct product portfolio, ranging from e.g. acetic acid and ethanol for the acetogens, to single-cell protein (SCP) and bioplastics (PHB) for the knallgas strains.

The experimental work will take place at 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. You will be a full member of BBEPP’s gasfermentation team, who will be guiding you closely towards the completion of your Master Thesis and give you a first impression and broader look into the (biotech) industry.

TOPIC 3 - Fermentative conversion of CO₂ into high-value products towards a circular economy

The accumulation of CO₂ in our atmosphere is an omnipresent topic requiring immediate and large-scale solutions. In contrast to considering it as waste, CO₂ could serve as a resource for the synthesis of green alternatives for today’s fossil-based products. This concept, known as carbon capture and utilisation (CCU), is gaining industrial attention because of the need for reduction of CO₂-emissions and the opportunity to make useful CO₂-based products.

This thesis will focus on the biotechnological utilisation of CO₂. During gas fermentation, CO₂ and H₂ are combined as, respectively, carbon and energy source for microbial cultivation. The main bottleneck of this technology is the uptake of the gaseous feedstock. A strategy to enhance the CO₂fixation efficiency is by implementing a two-stage process. CO₂ is first transformed into simple liquid molecules. Thereafter, starting from these CO₂-derived intermediates, the fermentative conversion reaches higher productivities.

The main goal of this thesis will be the development of a CO₂/H₂ gas fermentation, which will be intensified by elevated pressure, and a CO₂-based liquid fermentation. In both cases, the product of interest is the bioplastic polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). The findings resulting from this thesis will be integrated in EU-funded projects and will benefit several companies, going from those who need to lower their emissions, to those who can use the CO₂-based products.

You will perform your thesis in the industrial and stimulating environment of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant. BBEPP is a non-profit SME that assists companies and research groups to bridge the gap between laboratory research and industrial implementation of their innovations. Regarding the gas fermentation experiments, four state-of-the-art parallel fermenters will be used. Liquid fermentation strategies will be developed in the lab and scaled up to 150L fermenters together with experienced engineers.

TOPIC 4 - Meat the future, today!

Global food consumption keeps rising and to keep up with the demands of an est. 10 billion people by 2050, especially the conventional meat industry is far from sustainable. Also, a rising consumer concern for animal welfare and the burning issue of climate change, we must urgently revolutionize the foundations of this industry.

Many meat processing companies envision cultured meat as promising alternative to (partly) replace traditional animal-derived raw materials. With the arrival of cutting edge cultured meat technologies, Flanders has everything what it takes to be a pioneer in this field – a leading role in biotechnology on a scientific level, a strong food industry, and a history of expertise in fermentation (cell growth) technologies, both in research and industry.

Animal cell cultures have been used for over a century in research and medical settings providing the basic principles of cell culturing. However, the culturing of these cells for food production comes with its own set of challenges, as this for one requires a low media cost and high cell densities to become economically relevant. For this master thesis, you will be involved in tackling the challenging task of developing an industrially scalable cell proliferation and differentiation process for an embryonic cell line. This will be achieved by medium engineering, optimizing the feeding strategy, agitation, temperature etc. An optimized process will subsequently be scaled-up to enable the development of a downstream processing method that meets the demands for application in food products.

TOPIC 5 - In situ product recovery of muconic acid, a hot industrial platform molecule - Process development and scale up.

This thesis research will contribute to the Flemish SPICY project, aiming to provide the chemical industry with new or optimized processes to convert sugars into added value compounds. These include novel biobased chemicals as well as bio-derived equivalents to their current fossil-based industrial counterparts. Muconic acid (MA), a high value-added bio-product with reactive dicarboxylic groups and conjugated double bonds, is such a compound that has garnered increasing interest owing to its high potential for a broad range of industrial applications, among which bioplastics, which are rapidly growing in today’s consumer market and greatly contribute to the bio-based economy.

During the research, you will focus on the fermentative production of MA using state-of-the-art microbial cell factories (MCF), as well as on the in-situ product recovery (ISPR) of the produced MA. Recently, such a MCF has been custom engineered by the partners within the SPICY project. This promising strain can now be evaluated to produce MA. Following, you will optimize the fermentation conditions such as medium composition, pH, temperature, feeding strategies, oxygen consumption, etc. The fermentation strategy will be developed with the ISPR of MA in mind. For this, you will apply several techniques such as the use of resins, solvents, membranes, and combinations of the above. Finally, you will get the opportunity to bring this process to an industrial level by scaling up the fermentation with ISPR to produce kg quantities of MA, which will allow representative application testing.

TOPIC 6 - Developing a yeast cultivation and propagation strategy for the production of biofuels from MSW

The majority of our global waste still ends up in landfills or is burned for the recovery of energy. In Ostend, Belgium, a state-of-the-art waste-processing facility is being built that will fully valorize municipal solid waste (MSW). The organic fraction of MSW will be fermentatively converted into biofuels (ethanol and isobutanol) by using a robust Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. To make the fermentation process economically attractive, a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is currently being developed and validated at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant. Developing a robust fermentation process is critical to the success of commercial biofuel production. One of the major hurdles in achieving economical fermentative conversion of OFMSW to biofuels is the presence of inhibitory compounds that are generated during thermochemical pretreatment and hydrolysis. As the applied Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain is inhibited by these metabolic inhibitors, an appropriate cultivation and propagation strategy for obtaining robust cells is required.

During your internship or your Master Thesis, the aim is to develop a yeast cultivation and propagation strategy for the production of biofuels (ethanol and isobutanol) from OFMSW which is economically attractive enough to be implemented in the waste-processing facility in Ostend. This strategy should promote high cell mass yields and efficient co-fermentation of glucose and xylose in SSF. Development of this cultivation and propagation set-up will be done on lab scale and on pilot scale through biochemical and process engineering. This internship will be performed at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in the frame of a European project.

TOPIC 7 - Integrating ISPR with isobutanol fermentation from MSW

During your internship or your Master Thesis, the use of several ISPR set-ups will be explored. First, the operational window will be defined by performing several fermentation experiments. Then, several ISPR set-ups will be built at lab scale. Their performances will be verified and further optimized by performing an additional set of fermentation experiments. The most promising ISPR set-up will be built and validated at pilot scale. This internship will be performed at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in the frame of a European project.

TOPIC 8: Development of a downstream process for the production of a main polymer building block used for the production of eco-polymers

Glaukos is a European project which aims at developing ecologically friendly polymers for usage in the marine environment. The scope of this thesis is to develop a downstream process for the production of this building block from a fermentation broth. A literature study aims at mapping the state-of-the-art of this building block’s purification from fermentation broth, both at industrial scale and at research level. Practical work will be performed at lab scale to evaluate existing techniques as well as testing new approaches to the downstream process. As the goal is to design an industrially relevant process, the focus is on scalability of the tested techniques. Depending on the progress of the project, some lab-scale fermentations can also be included in this work.

Tutor BBEPP: Jeroen Van Malderen - Amount of days per week: 5 (full-time)

Company presentation:

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 90 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.

These innovative processes contribute to a sustainable bio-economy and help to respond to the major climate challenges.

To date, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant has carried out more than 300 bilateral projects for more than 150 companies from all over the world. It is/was also a partner in more than 40 publicly funded projects.

More information: www.bbeu.org/pilotplant

Offer:

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.

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