Biochemical Conversion Department

The Biochemical Conversion Department carries out research and development and provides consulting services in relation to energy production from biomass based on biochemical processes. This incorporates the primary area of biogas production and use, as well as the processes involved in supplying bioethanol and other future liquid and gas energy sources, which can be produced from organic materials by biological catalysis. A wide range of challenges have to be overcome in order to attain technically optimised biochemical conversion. Technical, biological, chemical, ecological and economic issues are involved.
Against that background, the primary goal of research activities carried out by the Biochemical Conversion Department is to improve the technical efficiency, economic viability and ecological sustainability of biogas production and use. This includes minimising negative and / or undesirable impacts on the environment combined with an increased methane yield from a wide variety of different substrates and substrate mixes. Research is also carried out to enhance the efficient use of energy and material flows and to create closed nutrient cycles. The department additionally provides support for the realization of new and technically improved plants. As part of its intensive cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, it also provides answers to wide-ranging questions relating to the properties and population dynamics of the microorganisms involved.

The Biochemical Conversion Department is divided into five Working Groups:

Read more about the Work groups of the Department "Biochemical Conversion"