Sustainable bioproducts from low cost methane gas

Applications are invited to join the University of Nottingham BBSRC iCASE Studentship to undertake an innovative four-year PhD training programme.

Project description

To compete with existing biopruducts manufacturing processes based on petrochemical derived raw materials, low cost feedstocks for biological fermentation processes are essential, since the feedstock typically equates to >60% of the overall production cost. Methane (CH4) is an abundant and cheap carbon resource, but is currently under-utilised as a feedstock for industrial biotechnology. Surplus methane is often released during oil extraction and simply flared (burnt without capturing the energy or carbon content). Methane is also a major component of biogas produced on a large scale by anaerobic digestion, technology that is well established in the EU. Currently, most biogenic methane is burnt for energy and has relatively little value. Today, methane is a low cost fermentation feedstock and also sustainable given the many sources available and current wastage. Therefore, methane provides an exciting feedstock opportunity for fermentation and conversion into high value biochemical metabolites (lipids, proteins and feeds). In collaboration with the world leading methane-based protein producer, Calysta, this studentship, we will explore the bottlenecks of using methane as a feedstock in continuous fermentations in both lab (1L, 10L) and demo (5000L) scales; to improve the rates and energy efficiencies of methane uptake, as well as approaches to engineer high-productivity methane conversion organisms.
     

This project will be based in the School of Life Sciences, and will be supervised by Dr Ying Zhang and Prof Nigel Minton.

Applications are invited from students who have/expect to graduate with a first/upper-second UK honours degree, or equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK. Students with an appropriate Masters degree are particularly encouraged to apply.

How to apply

Applicants should go to https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/bbdtp/icase-studentships/icase-studentships.aspx to download the application and reference forms.
Applications should include: a fully completed application form; a CV of no more than two A4 pages; a transcript of module marks achieved at the time of submission; and two references. Application forms and CVs should be named in the following format: SURNAME-initial-DTP_BBSRC_iCASE-application.doc (.docx or .pdf) and SURNAME-initial-BBSRC_iCASE-cv.doc (.docx or.pdf) e.g. SMITH-A-BBSRC_iCASE-application.doc

Applications should be sent via email with the subject line ‘BBSRC iCASE Studentship’ to [Email Address Removed] by the deadline: noon, 26th April 2018.

References should be sent directly from the referees to [Email Address Removed] by the deadline: noon, 26th April 2018. Please note it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the references are sent in good time for the deadline. Further details are on the reference form.

Informal inquiries can be made to Dr Ying Zhang ([Email Address Removed]).

Please quote ref: BBSRC iCASE