Our research group, headed by Professor Apostolis Koutinas, focuses on the development of sustainable biorefineries and bioprocesses to produce bio-based products with versatile applications.
Biorefinery development is based on the utilisation of crude renewable resources, including agro-industrial and food supply chain side streams, for the extraction of value-added components and the production of fermentation products. Pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of crude renewable resources generates sugar- and nutrient-rich fermentation feedstocks.
Bioprocess optimization focuses on the development of novel processes in pretreatment, fermentation and downstream separation and purification stages. The sustainability of biorefineries and bioprocesses are evaluated via process design using appropriate process design software, techno-economic evaluation and life cycle assessment.
