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2013|14 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

Dr.-Ing. Ursula Schließmann Head of Department of Environmental Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering Phone +49 711 970-4222 ursula.schliessmann@igb.fraunhofer.de ContactThe use of anaerobic biocatalysts to produce bulk chemicals or energy carriers has the advantage of a 90 percent carbon- source-to-product yield. The use of rapidly growing photoau- totrophic cells (microalgae) also leads to comparatively higher productivities than is achievable with terrestrial plants. Further benefits are reduced water requirements and the feasibility of water-based production of algae. The Environmental Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineer- ing Department is thus in a position to take part in solving socio-political challenges such as the greenhouse effect, en- ergy supply and freshwater shortage. By offering sustainable technology options, the department can help industry, com- munities and policymakers design a balanced future. Com- bining our competences with those of other Fraunhofer IGB departments, we serve the needs of the chemical, energy and environmental business areas. Range of services Wastewater and water purification methods Biotechnological purification processes and hybrid pro- cesses for industrial wastewater Development of utilization concepts for both inorganic and organic residual materials Development of regional-level system concepts for energy and water management Digestion processes to produce biogas from a range of or- ganic substrates Development of photoautotrophic processes for microal- gae and cyanobacteria in flat-panel airlift (FPA) reactors Biotransformation of renewable raw materials and indus- trial waste materials into basic chemicals Development of processes for the isolation, separation and purification of biotechnically manufactured products Analysis of microbial contamination on surfaces and in processing media Aerobic and anaerobic degradation tests Fermentation tests according to the Association of Ger- man Engineers guideline VDI 4630 Bioleaching, biosorption and bioprecipitation to obtain metals from different process waters and waste streams, using various reactor configurations Infrastructure and technical equipment Pilot plant for environmental and bioprocess engineering applications Bioreactors of various sizes (laboratory, pilot and technical scale) Analytics for substrates and fermentation products, protein analytics Mobile membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment Mobile pilot plants in m3 -scale to generate basic engineer- ing data in situ for the planning of innovative demonstra- tion plants Demonstration sites Knittlingen (DEUS 21); Stuttgart-Gais- burg (bioenergy); Reutlingen and Fraunhofer IGB (cultiva- tion of algae); Franca, SP, Brazil (bioenergy) Photobioreactors of various sizes for lab, outdoor and greenhouse applications Test facilities for different membrane processes (e.g. rotat- ing disk filtration) Official approvals for handling pathogenic organisms Apparatuses for testing antimicrobially finished materials Test facilities for cell disruption and extraction with super- critical fluids GIS applications using the ESRI ARC-INFO software; pro- cess simulation and automation (MATLAB, Siemens pro- gramming) 55

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