Iris Cornet

Iris Cornet

Contact

Campus Groenenborger
Tel.
+3232651704
Groenenborgerlaan 171
2020 Antwerpen, BEL

Research Plan 2016-2020

The research is grafted on the strategic plan of the BioGEM research group (Bio-Chemical Green Engineering & Materials), focusing on developing sustainable solutions for industry through the synergistic combination of biochemical engineering and green chemical processes in the fields of industrial biotechnology and renewable / eco-efficient building blocks and materials.

This research uses secondary currents of the agricultural and food industries for the production of materials, such as ethanol, lactic acid, pigments, long chain diacids, very-long-chain fatty acids, mannosylerythritol lipids, microbial oil, .... Eco-efficient processes are designed and optimized based on both pre-treatment of the raw material and the applied biocatalyst, as well as the process conditions using biochemical engineering and modeling techniques.

The direction of current research is continued.

  • Valorization of waste streams to value-added chemicals (long-chain diacids, very-long-chain fatty acids, mannosylerythritol lipids), evaluation of the influence of their compounds on the hydrolysis enzymes and the fermentation organism.& process optimization.
  • Use of lignocellulose biomass in bioprocesses with pretreatment, detoxification, integrated separation technology, reuse of biocatalyst, reduction of residual currents, lower use of carbon source, lower water consumption.
  • Optimization of solid state fermentation as a technique with major advantages, the use of agricultural side currents, low water consumption, low waste production, lower energy costs and production of new chemicals.