MASTER THESIS "BIOPROCESSING OF SPENT SULFITE LIQUOR (SSL) WASTE STREAM FOR THE PRODUCTION OF VALUE-ADDED CHEMICALS"
Standort: Vienna, Austria
Art: Masterarbeit
Firma: Technical University (TU) Vienna
Eingetragen am: 2019-07-24
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Motivation and Goals
In times of fading fossil resources and increasing waste generation, the production of biofuels and value-added chemicals by 2nd generation biorefinery are gaining interest.

A highly suitable feedstock for the fermentative production of biofuels & chemicals is spent sulfite liquor (SSL). SSL is a side stream obtained during wood pulping containing high concentrations of soluble sugars (e.g. hexoses and pentoses). Therefore, SSL is an ideal substrate for microbial fermentations. However, simultaneous hexose/pentose conversion under anaerobic conditions and the relatively high concentrations of inhibitory compounds in SSL have to be
addressed. Therefore, suitable and robust microorganisms and process conditions need to be selected that allow efficient conversion of sugars into value-added products.  
The topic of this master thesis will be characterization of an interesting, anaerobic microorganism regarding its suitability for an SSL-based microbial conversion process for production of fuel chemicals. Small scale batch cultivations and lab-scale continuous cultivations will be used to study different process conditions, media composition, substrate utilization and product formation. From the data obtained, key performance parameters such as titer, rate and yield will be calculated.  

Opportunities
You will get training in handling anaerobic cultures and continuous bioreactor cultivations. This includes preparation, execution and process control of the continuous cultivations, analysis of cultures with state-of-the-art analytics (e.g. HPLC, FACS,…), as well as evaluation of the obtained data (e.g. carbon balancing). You will work in a friendly and highly motivated research group with a broad research spectrum.

Requirements
You are studying biotechnology, biochemistry, bioprocess engineering or similar. You have a hands-on mentality and already gained some microbial lab-experience. You should be motivated, scientifically curious and able to work in a team as well as independently.

Time frame & compensation
This project can be started immediately and is scheduled for 6 months.
Your work will be compensated with 300€/month.

Anhang: hier