As a society we must move towards a circular economy and strive to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover before we dump our waste in landfill. I am interested in how we can do this – whether the solution is simple or innovative. I specialise in producing techno-economic assessments and optimising waste to product processes.
Over the past few years I have worked on a range of bioprocess projects that transformed waste into products. This included the synthesis of biooil, bioplastics and probiotics from sugarcane waste products using bacteria and fungi. As a result, I have experience in facility design, process optimisation, growth media optimisation (using statistical design and laboratory experiments), fermentation, pyrolysis, hydrolysis and enzymatic saccharification.
I am also interested in the application of plants, yeast, fungi and bacteria in water treatment, fuel alternatives, bio-remediation and product synthesis.