Course details

  • Study time: 6-8h

  • Target audience: Bachelor/Master students/Industry/academia representatives in the field of (Bio)chemical engineering, chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome

    • Introduction video

    • Meet the teacher

    • Learning objectives

    • What do you want to learn?

    • Present yourself to your peers

    • Become familiar with the learning platform

    • Good practices to use this course

    • How to obtain your course certificate
  • 2

    Introduction

    • Introduction

    • Before really kicking off...
  • 3

    Cellulose recovery & its valorization

    • What do you know about cellulose recovery?

    • Cellulose in wastewater: How much is in there and why should we recover it

    • Exercise - How much cellulose can we recover and what can we do with it?

    • Recovery of cellulose using microsieves: principles and application

    • Exercise - How does cellulose recovery affect the WWTP footprint?

    • Benefits of cellulose recovery

    • Exercise - Retrofitting an existing WWTP for cellulose recovery

    • Discussion exercise: how do operational factors affect process economics?
  • 4

    Production of added-value compounds from organics in wastewater or sludge

    • Let's see what you know about...

    • Scope and rationale

    • Production and recovery of organic acids

    • Microbiology and biochemistry of carboxylic acid production

    • Hydrolysis

    • Primary fermentations

    • Secondary fermentations

    • Inhibition of methanogens

    • Exercise: Loading rate and F/M ratio

    • Exercise - How much MCCA can be produced from an industrial wastewater stream?

    • Physicochemical recovery of carboxylic acids - I

    • Physicochemical recovery of carboxylic acids - II

    • Process implementation and case studies

    • Exercise - What is the selectivity of various extraction methods?

    • Discussion exercise: SCCA production

    • Production and recovery of polyhydroxyalkanoates

    • Case studies: SCEPPHAR and PHARIO

    • Exercise - How much PHA can be produced from organic waste?

    • Discussion exercise: PHA production
  • 5

    Conclusion

    • Concluding video

    • Module summary

    • What did you learn?

    • Help us to improve this course

    • Thanks to our sponsors

Instructor(s)

Professor

Ramon Ganigué

Prof. Ramon Ganigué, based at the Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology at Ghent University, is a distinguished expert in environmental biotechnology. With a PhD in Environmental Engineering, he specializes in the treatment and valorization of diverse waste streams, encompassing both industrial and municipal sources. His research extends to mitigating sewer corrosion and odours, crucial in urban sanitation. Additionally, Prof. Ganigué delves into cutting-edge biological processes for converting CO2 into high-value products, with a focus on syngas fermentation and microbial electrosynthesis. His work embodies a commitment to sustainable solutions for environmental challenges.