Internship Assignment / Graduation Assignment

Name of the project

–             Follow – Up Protein Recovery from industrial side steams.

Student Profile

Bachelor / Master

–             Chemical Engineering

–             Environmental engineering/science

About Colubris Cleantech

Colubris Cleantech is a family business from Winterswijk. Since its foundation in 1984, the company has developed into a reliable partner in solving complex environmental problems related to waste water, waste recycling and biological resources. The company’s focus is therefore divided into 3 divisions: water, waste and bioresource solutions.

• The Water Solutions division focuses on solutions to reduce waste water problems, reuse water and minimise contaminants to be disposed of.
• The Waste Solutions division focuses on solutions for separating waste streams for reuse and recycling.
• The Bioresource Solutions division has solutions for the recovery of residual materials from the food and non-food industry.

In order to stay ahead of the latest developments, Colubris is challenged to constantly develop itself. To set this process in motion, the Colubris Academy was launched this year. This Academy is a physical space at Colubris where the student team meets to work on assignments.

Your assignment

As part of the research on recovery of protein extraction from side streams, the student will be responsible for optimising the current setup to achieve higher protein concentrate. In doing so, the student will have to investigate and optimise different techniques and parameters to achieve the best results. This involves both literature and lab research.

Within this project various parameters need to be addressed with the main focus on functionality and stability. Think of physical, chemical and functional properties of the recovered proteins.

In addition, the student will focus on protein recovery and functionality. This involves using various techniques like ultrafiltration to extract and recover proteins. It also includes investigating the physical, chemical and functional properties of the protein concentrate to see how these properties can be further optimised.

Furthermore, students will have the opportunity to explore alternative methods beyond ultrafiltration to complete the whole process. For example, exploring pre-treatments to improve the protein concentrate or using a spray dryer to convert the protein concentrate to a dry form. Small business and market case analyses may also be considered, to check for feasibility and include industrial opportunities and scale up as part of the assignment.

This assignment therefore requires the student to have an in-depth knowledge of the various techniques and methods used in the extraction and processing of proteins from agricultural/processing side steams. The student should also be able to set up experiments, analyse data and draw conclusions that can help further optimise the process.

Start date

September 2023.

Location

To be discussed, Wageningen or Winterswijk.

Our expectation

You are a motivated student in Chemical Engineering or Environmental Sciences/Engineering. While carrying out this assignment, you can work independently and when necessary you are a team player.

What we offer

At Colubris, you will receive an appropriate internship allowance. Furthermore, you will receive good supervision from an experienced content supervisor and a process supervisor during your internship / thesis project. The content supervisor will help you with questions about your assignment. For questions outside of your research you can contact the process supervisor of Innovation Hub Winterswijk.