I am interested in developing biotechnological processes focusing on clean production, low energy consumption, and limited waste streams. Mainly, agricultural (side) streams and wastewater treatment plant materials serve as input materials. After mild refinery processes, the individual fractions are subjected to enzymatic or fermentative conversion to produce biobased materials, e.g., high-pressure anaerobic digestion (AHPD) for bio-/ green gas with additional use of hydrogen, bioplastics, fatty acids production with mixed microbial cultures, bifunctional molecules for polymerization using genetically engineered production strains.
In those mentioned above and other processes, we study the metabolism of the microorganisms via, among others, transcriptomics and proteomics techniques. We use the data for predictive modeling with the help of artificial intelligence and advanced data analysis techniques. We aim to identify rate-limiting steps for further improvement, including redirecting the microbial metabolism to use alternative, soluble electron acceptors in aerobic fermentations.

Fermentations are carried out on a small scale in in-house designed 3D-printed microreactors in the laboratory, on a pilot scale in the Zernike Advanced Processing(ZAP) facility and REMO-lab, and full scale at production sites.