Background:
In order to establish a circular bio-economy it is necessary to utilize organic waste streams as a resource for production of various materials. These waste streams are, however, an inhomogeneous resource and they have to be processed before they can be used for biotechnological applications. Within the EU project “VOLATILE” an anaerobic bioconversion step is used to generate volatile fatty acids (VFA) from waste streams. The VFAs are purified, concentrated and can subsequently serve as a substrate for biotechnological production. The aim of this master’s thesis is to develop a production process for microbial lipid inclusions (“single cell oil”, SCO) based on VFA. Some yeast strains (“oleaginous yeasts”) are able to store excess carbon as SCO. These lipids are usually produced when other substrate components apart from carbon are limited. SCO can serve as a renewable alternative to petrol based resources in the chemical industry.

Objectives:
Different process parameters (pH, temperature, concentration of substrate components) will be varied in labscale experiments for a selected yeast strain. The aim is to optimize the production of SCO on a synthetic medium. Based on the results subsequent fermentation experiments with an actual waste derived substrate will be conducted.

Methods:
– Work in a microbiological lab
– Labscale fermentation
– Chemical analytics, HPLC, GC

When? Spring 2019
Where? BOKU, Department of Agrobiotechnology, IFA-Tulln
Duration of practical work: 6 months
Funding: “geringfügige Beschäftigung” (approx. € 400,- per month)

Information and Contact:
Dr. Markus Neureiter
Tel.: +43 1 47654 97441
markus.neureiter@boku.ac.at

Dipl.-Ing. Lukas Burgstaller
Tel.: +43 1 47654 97447
lukas.burgstaller@boku.ac.at