Project description
Cost-efficient and sustainable microbial oil production process
To achieve European green goals and reduce dependence on fossil fuels, sectors must transition to renewable energy and circular economies. Microbial oils are a promising and sustainable raw material for bioproducts that are usually derived from petroleum. However, their production is challenged by cell performance and substrate costs. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Oils4my project will design, develop and validate a high-performance, innovative platform for converting volatile fatty acids from anaerobic fermentation into microbial oils through the use of photosynthetic microorganisms and oleaginous yeast. This solution will address crucial challenges and introduce a cost-effective process for microbial oil production, which is essential for circular economy efforts.
Objective
The transition to renewable energies is urgent and necessary to reach independence from fossil fuels and consolidate the circular economy in the EU. Microbial oils are regarded as a promising raw material for sustainable production of bioproducts conventionally attained from petro-derivatives. However, microbial oil production viability depends mainly on cell performance and substrate cost. To cope with that, Oils4my will engineer and validate a high-performance novel platform capable of converting volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from anaerobic fermentation (AF) into microbial oils using oleaginous yeast and photosynthetic microorganisms. Oils4my will address three key scientific challenges: the viability of using VFAs from AF as a low-cost carbon source, understand the nutrient requirements of the proposed consortium to produce and accumulate lipids, and validate an integrated multi-stage process that enables high-performance microbial oil production at a technical and economic level. To overcome these challenges, first, an efficient separation of VFAs (from AF) through membrane filtration will be designed. VFAs will be then used as carbon sources for the microbial consortium and optimal parameters will be determined to produce and accumulate lipids in an oleaginous fermentation. As a green alternative, microbial oils will be extracted by enzymatic hydrolysis. The whole process will be validated in a multi-stage system to reach an oil content of 40-60% w/w and an oil extraction efficiency of 70%. Oils4my will demonstrate the feasibility of producing microbial oils using a waste stream derived from AF in a cost-effective process, contributing to the circular economy. The fellow, Dr. Marcela Levío-Raimán will conduct this action at the Institute of Sustainable Processes of the University of Valladolid under the supervision of Dr. Cristina González, with secondments at the University of Antwerp and Oleofat company and in collaboration with Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules lipids
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
47002 VALLADOLID
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.