🇧🇪 Internship in Belgium 🧬 Gas Fermentation and Carbon Capture Research at a Bio-Based Pilot Plant ♻️ (€300/month)

If you are a biotechnology or bio-engineering student who wants to work at the frontier of sustainability, this IAESTE internship in Belgium is a remarkable opportunity. At Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent, you will help turn climate-harming CO2 into valuable bio-based chemicals through gas fermentation, conducting fundamental research that scales up into a real industrial process.

About the Host

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) was established in 2008 and currently has more than 165 employees. It is a unique, open-innovation pilot and demonstration facility for process development, scaling up, and trial production of bio-based products and processes, from laboratory to multi-ton scale.

BBEPP combines a wide and flexible range of modular unit operations with a team of highly qualified and experienced bio-process engineers and technicians to translate laboratory-scale bio-based processes into cost-effective industrial processes. It aims to be a workplace where all employees can grow and use their full potential, offering a pleasant atmosphere that values and rewards initiative, hard work, and commitment.

About the Project: Capturing Biogenic CO2 Through Gas Fermentation

This internship is part of Topic 1: Capturing biogenic CO2 into biobased intermediates through gas fermentation, available from February 2027.

Due to its adverse effects on the climate, the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere remains a serious challenge. Yet, where CO2 was previously considered a burden, it is now seen as a possible green resource for the synthesis of chemical intermediates and added-value compounds, a concept known as carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). Industrial CO2 can be abiogenic, when it comes from fossil carbon, or biogenic, when it originates from a natural resource. Because CO2 has a rather low energy, other energy sources are required for the organism, in the form of CO and/or H2.

This project focuses on producing acetic acid via gas fermentation on syngas or H2/CO2, using biogenic CO2. It involves fundamental research to understand the workings of the organisms and the process. Based on this research, the process will be scaled to 1 litre in four parallel gas fermenters at BBEPP, and further intensified through cell recycle and the use of elevated pressures, aiming to improve acetic acid productivity. Finally, the downstream processing of acetic acid will be investigated to ensure that the stream can be used as a valuable carbon source for other liquid fermentation processes.

The project is framed within the EU-funded projects CAPTUS and FUELPHORIA, which focus on transforming biogenic CO2 into biochemicals and fuels in a truly renewable manner.

About the Role

🧫 Perform fundamental research in the gas fermentation field

⚗️ Help scale the process to 1 litre across four parallel gas fermenters

🔄 Intensify the process using cell recycle and elevated pressures to improve acetic acid productivity

♻️ Investigate the downstream processing of acetic acid for use as a carbon source in other fermentations

🏭 See your research evolve into a process using state-of-the-art gas fermentation equipment in an industrial environment

Who Can Apply

This internship is for students in Biotechnology who have completed at least four years of study.

🧬 You are studying for a degree in bio-engineering or a related field, such as bioprocessing, chemistry, biotechnology, or cell and gene technology

🦠 Some experience with bacterial, yeast, or fungal hosts is an asset

⚗️ Some relevant experience with biocatalytic processes for the production of chemicals, food ingredients, or cosmetics is an asset

🗣️ Excellent English (C1, C2)

🛂 Only candidates with EU citizenship (EEA or Swiss, or dual EU nationality) are eligible, as the internship duration exceeds 90 days under Belgian visa regulations. Applications for shorter durations (up to 90 days) cannot be considered.

Work Details

📍 Location: Ghent, Belgium (on-site, research and development environment)

⏳ Duration: 25 to 52 weeks, within 1 February 2027 to 31 January 2028

🕗 Working hours: 40 per week

💶 Gross pay: 300 EUR per month

🏷️ Reference number: BE-2026-001-UGE

Living and Lodging

🏠 Accommodation: student dormitory, with an estimated cost of around 150 EUR per month

💶 Estimated cost of living, including lodging: around 300 EUR per month

How to Apply

Applications are made through IAESTE. Apply via the official IAESTE listing, quoting the reference number BE-2026-001-UGE. Students apply through their home country's IAESTE national committee.

👉 Apply here: https://iaeste.org/internships/be-2026-001-uge/about