Syngas (a gaseous mixture of CO, H₂ and CO₂) can be produced by gasification of organic waste materials or biomass, and its valorisation is foreseen as an important process in circular bioeconomy. Carbon monoxide is also produced as a waste gas in many industrial sectors (e.g. chemical, energy, steel). Often, the purity level of bio-based syngas and waste gases is low and/or the syngas composition is not sufficient for an economic chemical application (e.g. Fischer-Tropsch). Microbes have the capability to transform impure syngas to a broad spectrum of products. Syngas fermentation to ethanol has reached demo-scale, but fermentation to chemical building blocks is underexplored. Currently, there are three main bottlenecks in syngas bioconversion: 1) low CO conversion rates to CO, 2) limited product spectra, 3) reduced mass transfer rates of syngas. 

This  programme brings together a multidisciplinary team of microbiologists and (bio)process engineers to tackle these major gaps by:

       1) Discovering novel microbes with high CO-conversion rates and resistance 

       2) Designing synthetic consortia or engineered microbes for the production of low-solubility molecules or volatiles

       3) Evaluating, developing, and testing novel intensified high-cell density bioreactors with enhanced gas-liquid mass transfer and smart product recovery strategies.