Master Thesis: Development of Process Technologies for the Extraction of Ferulic Acid from Agricultural Residues

AEE INTEC

AEE – Institute for Sustainable Technologies (AEE INTEC) was founded in 1988 and has grown into one of Eu-rope’s leading institutes in applied research in the fields of renewable energy and resource efficiency. Our re-search and development projects range from fundamental research to the implementation of demonstration plants and focuses on three target areas: Buildings, Cities & Power Grids, and Industrial Systems with three technological working groups: Renewable Energy, Thermal Storage, and Water- and Process Technologies.

AEE INTEC currently has a team of approximately 90 employees from fifteen different countries working at its location in Gleisdorf. With an average of three PhD students, as well as around ten diploma students, interns, and student assistants, the institute also contributes to the education of highly qualified professionals.
In recent years, AEE INTEC has played a key role in advancing sustainable technologies through its involvement in national, European, and international R&D projects. Sponsors of these projects include federal ministries, the European Commission, international organizations such as UNIDO, as well as industrial and commercial enter-prises.

The Research Project

The FeruCycle project aims to develop synergistic value chains for both agriculture and the chemical industry by upgrading low-value agricultural residues to functional phenolic acids – like ferulic acid – that can serve as bio-based platform chemicals in a circular bioeconomy. For this, the project team combines the systematic characterization and milling of agricultural substrates, with the development of a novel biotechnological ap-proach for phenolic acid extraction, and the investigation of business models and relevant stakeholder net-works.

Master’s Thesis Project

The Master’s thesis will be an integral part of the above-mentioned research project and focuses on the exper-imental investigation of the biocatalytic extraction of phenolic acids from agricultural biomass, with a strong focus on different types and milling grades of brans from wheat or rye. Experiments will commence on lab scale in our laboratory in Gleisdorf, before the technical implementation (and upscaling) continues in our in-house oscillatory flow bioreactors (OFBs). This key enabling technology can achieve effective mixing of hetero-geneous biomass slurries with low energy input and low shear forces and is therefore ideally suited for biocata-lytic extractions as this. Central research questions of the MSc project include the identification of most prom-ising substrates and substrate pretreatments, economically suitable biocatalyst preparations, reaction engi-neering for optimal product yield, the implementation of a continuous extraction process, and sufficient prod-uct titers in the extract for further downstream processing (DSP). The content of the thesis includes:

• performance of alkaline reference extractions on pre-treated substrates provided by our project partners to identify those with the highest extractable content of ferulic acid
• screening of biocatalyst suitability from a range of selected commercial preparations
• identification of best biocatalyst-substrate pairing for process development
• investigation of suspension and flow behaviour of substrates in the oscillatory flow bioreactor (OFB)
• biocatalytic extraction trials in the OFB at variable extraction conditions
• optimization of OFB process conditions
• sampling and sample preparation for analysis (analysis performed by project partners)
• data collection, evaluation, and interpretation
• discussion of results in relation to the research hypothesis
• if successful: opportunity for upscaling to a novel DN50 OFB reactor

We expect …

• organized, solution-oriented, and as independent working style as possible
• intrinsic motivation for excellent work and drive to make an impact
• solid knowledge in one or more of the following or related fields: chemistry, process engineering, bio-technology, etc.
• good command of English
• presence required at the research institute in Gleisdorf (option for remote work for data analysis)

We offer…

• paid MSc thesis and a workspace at our institute in Gleisdorf
• public transport ticket for the duration of employment
• integration into an ongoing research project and the research team
• professional supervision by experienced staff and researchers
• duration: 6 months, earliest possible start: February 2026

Contacts