Join us for #EnvBiotechAware Week, 3-7 March 2025 to celebrate the work of our membership and take a closer look at our activities and achievements from the last few years.
Lunchtime Webinar
Mixed-Culture Anaerobic Fermentation in the EU: updates from HORIZON 2020 projects on biowaste-derived volatile fatty acid platform, Tuesday, 4 March 2025 1-2 pm (UK)
Keeping you up-to-date with pioneering work in Europe, speakers will cover the HORIZON 2020 projects VOLATILE/CAFIPLA, developments in Standardisation, and insights from Pilot Scale research. No time to register? Join us directly from the Teams link HERE. Further details are on the flyer here, so do share it with colleagues.
• CEN Workshop agreement CWA 17484: 2020 – Anaerobic digestion plants – Feasibility assessment methodology for integrating a Volatile Fatty Acid Platform Technology (Dr Jochen Michels, DECHEMA).
• Experiences in Operating a Volatile Fatty Acid Pilot from the industry perspective (Dr Marie-Aline Pierrard, IDELUX)
• Volatile Fatty Acid Platform – from biowaste treatment towards upcycling (Thomas Dietrich, TECNALIA).
Featured Working Groups
What have our Working Groups been up to? Ably led by academics whose enthusiasm translates into action, see how EBNet support has benefited these communities. Today’s featured groups:
• Anaerobic Fermentation
• Bioelectrochemical Systems Development for Environmental Technology
• Process Integration and Sustainability Assessment
“I am an Environmental Biotechnologist because…..”
Our Early Career Researchers span a plethora of fields, technologies and topics. So we asked them to respond to: ‘I am an Environmental Biotechnologist because…‘. See responses from today’s featured ECRs:
• Wenjun Peng, University of Sheffield, Deborah Hall, Harper Adams University and Maggie White, Newcastle University
• Olaoye Oludotun, University of Surrey, Peirou Li, University of Exeter and Kathleen Dunbar, University of Surrey
Impact
Amongst the papers and projects, workshops and webinars, many tangible outputs have surfaced to help guide the wider Environmental Biotechnology community. Today we feature:
The Role of Anaerobic Fermentation (AF) in the Cicular Bioeconomy . This report presents the results of a workshop on AF. Run jointly by EBNet and the Biomass Biorefinery Network, the workshop aim was to to address research and development gaps and needs for this industrial biotechnology route.
Our Anaerobic Fermentation (AF) Working Group (WG) has also carried out desk-based and small test-the-concept studies on integrated AF and product recovery and a summary of their work can be found here.
Here, we also include a summary of the work carried out by Dr Maria Ramos Suarez for our BES and AF WGs on Implications of Emerging Biotechnologies for Bioreactor Materials. This study arose from industry/academic discussions and it explores the implications of emerging industrial and environmental biotechnologies for producers and users of industrial bioreactors. The full report will be coming soon.
Outreach
We’ve commissioned books, animations and more – all available for the wider community to be used beyond the lifetime of our Network. Take a few moments to watch, download and share today’s animation:
Anaerobic fermentations: A sustainable approach to everyday products by turning waste into value
And feel free to read, use and share our anthology of short stories Microbes to the Rescue! created in conjunction with Green Stories. The Audiobook version will be available soon.
Selected Case Studies
• Sludge dewaterability: Improved tools for the emerging biotech industries. Dr Yue Zhang, University of Southampton (BIV202102)
• Feasibility study for the recovery of precious metals from incinerated bottom ash (IBA) using bioleaching technology. Prof Sebastien Farnaud, Coventry University and Fortis IBA Ltd (BIV202401)
• Pure biomethane – rather than biogas – from a single waste stream. Dr Elizabeth Heidrich, Newcastle University (POC202207)
• Simultaneous bioremediation of nutrient pollution and carbon fixation through a novel integrated anammox and acetogens-based bio-electrochemical system. Dr Ahsan Islam, Loughborough University (POC202311)
 | Sulfur oxidising Beggiatoa with S inclusions and a filamentous cyanobacteria |  | Viruses (bacteriophages) in AS plant attached to the host bacterium they lysed |
| Images kindly provided by Prof Francisco Torrella of the University of Murcia Faculty of Biology, one of our valued group of international expert advisers | |||