🇧🇪 Internship in Belgium 🧬 Microbial Oil Production in a Zero-Waste Biorefinery at a Bio-Based Pilot Plant 🛢️ (€300/month)

If you are a biotechnology or bio-engineering student passionate about sustainability and the circular economy, this IAESTE internship in Belgium offers cutting-edge, hands-on research. At Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent, you will help turn a major agricultural byproduct into valuable microbial oils, working at the heart of a zero-waste biorefinery project that bridges lab research and industrial application.

About the Host

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) was established in 2008 and currently has more than 175 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: Zero-Waste Biorefinery in Action

This internship is part of Topic 9: Zero-waste biorefinery in action, focused on microbial oil production from rapeseed meal sidestreams, available from October 2026.

The BIOVALCOR project aims to demonstrate an integrated, zero-waste biorefinery concept using rapeseed meal (RSM), a major byproduct of rapeseed oil production, as a sustainable feedstock. The overall objective is to achieve full valorisation of all RSM components, including proteins, hydroxycinnamic acids, carbohydrates, lignin, and lipids, thereby significantly increasing the economic and environmental sustainability of current rapeseed-based value chains.

Within this framework, the internship focuses on developing and intensifying a flexible fermentation and downstream processing (DSP) platform for the production and recovery of microbial oils from RSM-derived side streams. Earlier-identified high-performing microbial strains will be used to convert these complex feedstocks into intracellular lipids, which can serve as renewable alternatives for oleochemical and biofuel applications, with an emphasis on sustainable, scalable, and economically viable routes in line with Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) principles.

The Specific Objectives

🧫 Fermentation process development: optimise pretreatment strategies and fermentation conditions to maximise microbial growth, lipid accumulation, and productivity using RSM-derived substrates

⚙️ Process intensification: develop and evaluate intensified fermentation strategies targeting high intracellular lipid contents and productivities under industrially relevant conditions

♻️ Sustainable DSP: design and optimise green extraction methodologies for microbial oil recovery, focusing on wet biomass processing, solvent minimisation, and solvent recycling to achieve high recovery yields

📊 Techno-economic evaluation: contribute to techno-economic assessments to identify cost drivers, guide optimisation, and ensure industrial relevance

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 October 2026 to 31 May 2027

🕗 Working hours: 40 per week

📅 The company is closed during the holidays, from 24 to 31 December 2026

💶 Gross pay: 300 EUR per month

🏷️ Reference number: BE-2026-024-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-2026-024-UGE. Students apply through their home country's IAESTE national committee.

👉 Apply here: https://iaeste.org/internships/be-2026-024-uge