Course
Microalgae Biorefinery
Advanced course, designing optimal microalgae-based biorefineries, from unit operations to the entire process chain, for both research and commercial applications and to be able to address the present bottlenecks in the process chain.
Background
Microalgae are considered a biobased feedstock for a variety of applications: Food, feed, chemicals, materials and energy. The advantages of this feedstock is its flexibility in terms of products and sustainability: high areal productivity in comparison to terrestrial crops, lack of competition for land that is suitable for agriculture, and their capacity to grow on seawater. To make microalgae a source of bulk products, the cost price for production needs to be reduced, the scale of production needs to be increased significantly and the biomass value should be maximized.
To develop a more sustainable and economically feasible process, all biomass components (e.g. proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) should be used at minimal energy requirements and minimal costs while keeping the functionality of the different biomass components. Biorefining of microalgae is very important for the selective separation and use of the functional biomass components
In the course Microalgae Process Design: from cells to photobioreactors (4th Edition, 8-15 July, Wageningen) the upstream part, i.e. the biology and cultivation part is covered. In this course, Microalgae Biorefinery, the downstream part, i.e the biorefinery will be in focus. The two courses will cover the entire microalgae process chain. When taking both courses we can offer a reduction in total course fee.
Target group
The course is aimed at PhD students, postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, as well as professionals, that would like to acquire a thorough understanding of microalgal biorefinery. An MSc level in (bio)process technology, or alike, is recommended.
Course aim
This course provides the essential skills for designing optimal microalgae-based biorefineries, from unit operations to the entire process chain, for both research and commercial applications and to be able to address the present bottlenecks in the process chain.
Course design
Through lectures, digital cases and short practicals, the participants will learn: 1) to describe different process units for each process step in the microalgae biorefinery chain; 2) to evaluate and optimize the process units by setting up mass/energy balances for each unit; 3) to integrate the different process units in a process chain and to 4) integrate the acquired knowledge into optimal process chains for different business cases with different combinations of end products.
Programme topics
- Unit operations mass balances: harvesting, cell disruption, extraction, fractionation
- Biorefinery Process Design
- Optimization of the process chain
- Analytical methods
Social programme
On Tuesday evening a course dinner is organised.
Course coordinators
- Prof Michel Eppink & Dr Giuseppe Olivieri – Bioprocess Engineering, Wageningen UR
Other faculty
- Dr Corjan van der Berg – TNO Innovation for Life, Zeist
- Dr Carl Safi − Food and Biobased Research, Wageningen UR
- Dr Ben van den Broek – Food and Biobased Research, Wageningen UR
- Dr Rouke Bosma − Bioprocess Engineering, Wageningen UR
Date & duration
The course is scheduled for 18-20 July 2016
Study load
The study load of this course is 0.9 ECTS credits. Participants can earn 0.5 extra ECTS credits by presenting a poster.
Language
The course language will be English.
Contact information
For more information please contact:
The Graduate School VLAG
Mrs. Ingeborg van Leeuwen-Bol
Email: Ingeborg.vanLeeuwen-Bol@wur.nl
Location & accommodation
Lectures will be given at Wageningen University.
The town of Wageningen is 5 km from Ede-Wageningen railway station, with transport options being taxi or bus. Ede-Wageningen railway station is about one and a half hours from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. For train schedules visit: www.ns.nl.
A number of hotel rooms have been block booked at the Hof van Wageningen for course participants, but only until 30 January 2017. Accommodation costs are € 75 (single room) or € 92 (twin room (also for single use); bed & breakfast, excluding tax) per night. Hotel reservation is handled by Hof van Wageningen. Participants have to book their own hotel room by sending an email to: info@hofvanwageningen.nl. Please mention booking code MBR2016
Register
Registration is closed
The number of participants to the course is limited to 26.
The final registration date is 7 June 2016.
Applicants will receive a confirmation of their registration within one week and will be informed about their acceptance to the course 9 June 2016 at the latest. When accepted to the course they will receive instructions for payment and further course details. To secure their place in the course the applicants have to arrange payment of their course fee within 30 days after invoicing
The course fee includes printed materials, coffee/tea during breaks, lunches and one dinner but does not cover accommodation.
| PhD candidates | € 400 |
| Postdocs and other academic staff / Non-profit | € 600 |
| Participants from the private sector | € 1200 |
Cancellations policy
Cancellations may be made free of charge until 7 June 2016. After this date the charge will be 25 % of the fee paid or due. Substitutions may be made at any time.
We can offer a discount in total course fee when taking the prior course on Microalgae Process Design from 8-15 July 2016. Please contact Chantal Doeswijk (Chantal.Doeswijk@wur.nl) for more information