Research

Europe imports 74% of the protein feed it needs and produces nitrogen fertiliser using the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process. At the same time, large quantities of bound nitrogen are eliminated through combustion or in sewage treatment plants. Today, insects and microorganisms are used to recycle waste streams. The aim of the project is to develop an innovative process for the utilisation of organic waste fractions by cockroaches supported by an AI-assisted system. The BonsAI project has the following objectives: 1. Development of an AI-controlled bioconversion technology for the fully automated separation of organic and inorganic waste fractions with a separation efficiency of ≥ 95% and a bioconversion rate/biomass utilisation rate of ≥ 90% of the organic input 2. Scaling from laboratory scale (1 m³) to pilot plant level (10 m³) with proof of industrial suitability through continuous operation for ≥ 6 months 3. Achieving a throughput of 50 kg of organic matter/day (in the 10 m³ plant) 4. Development of new recycling products with defined quality standards: cockroach protein hydrolysates (≥ 90% protein content), hygienised feed (NPK content according to EU fertiliser regulation) and biogas co-substrates (≥ 70% of theoretical methane yield)

The project ELF4GREEN deals with an advanced bioconversion concept for production of green fuels and chemicals implementing electro-fermentation as a core technology. In future circular economy, Biorefineries will be responsible for the provision of chemicals and fuels based on renewable feedstocks. A pre-requisite is the supply of cost-effective feedstocks for large-scale production on a consistent basis. An obvious way to go is to utilize waste materials. Bio-wastes and residues are cheap and widely available in the EU at present, however, their use requires significant technological innovation, especially to overcome feedstock quality variations. Within ELF4GREEN advanced fermentation concepts are investigated with particularly focus on the use of such waste materials both in form of liquid waste and as well as hardly degradable organic waste fraction (e.g. mixed plastic waste). The core technology to achieve that, is an up-coming high-end fermentation technology – electro-fermentation. This technique relies on electro-active microorganisms which have the unique feature to shuttle electrons across their cell membrane and extracellularly transfer them to or from an electrode submerged into the liquid media. The applied electric current allows to direct and rearrange metabolic cell reactions and consequently to change the generated product pattern. For the treatment of dry and poorly biodegradable materials, e.g. municipal waste, mixed plastic waste or wood residues, this core technology will be combined with gasification and syngas-fermentation. More readily bio-convertible substrates will be treated by acidic fermentation. In both approaches the intermediary metabolites will be up-graded through tailor-made electro-supported fermentation technologies to obtain the final products.

The production of biomethane offers the possibility of converting organic waste materials into a gaseous, easily storable energy carrier with a high energy density. To meet the required quality standards for injecting biomethane into the established gas storage grid, contaminants—primarily CO₂—must be removed. The CO₂ separated from the raw biogas or digester gas can then be used as a feedstock for additional methanation with renewable hydrogen to maximize the achievable injection volume. A widespread implementation of such a circular-economy CCU approach has so far not been realized due to excessively high investment and operating costs as well as the persistent dominance of fossil energy sources. As the expansion of cost-efficient, variable renewable energy progresses, a future seasonal balancing demand in the double-digit terawatt-hour range is expected. Biomethanation could therefore enable the methanation of hard-to-abate CO₂ sources (e.g., from wastewater treatment plants) during periods of electrical overcapacity, which would on the one hand result in negative emissions and on the other hand produce a storable energy carrier. The project “BioCH4eramics” aims to establish the foundation for a radically new type of bioreactor (“plug-flow”) and a new biotechnological process for the production of biomethane. By specifically immobilizing methanogenic microorganisms within the pore space of technical ceramics, the use of the plug-flow reactor with a large specific surface area as a potentially highly efficient production system for biomethane will be experimentally investigated.