Smart Biorefinery: IoT enabled Bacterial Nanocellulose Farming

Abstract
This PhD investigates smart farming methods for biomass generation using bacterial nanocellulose. BNC is a highly versatile material which is suitable for biomedical applications. It is also investigated as a composite for construction, automotive and product design. The demand for biomaterials, especially BNC is predicted to grow, due to circular economy and change in legislation favouring closed loop materials. However, producing BNC at scale is difficult and to date there is no commercial BNC biorefinery in the UK. Through the development of novel IoT sensors and the application of deep learning, this project aims to launch a set of innovation tools to enable high volume production of BNC.

How to Apply 
Please contact Dr Elena Dieckmann if you are interested in applying for this project. 

For more information on submitting a PhD application, please consult our application pages here. When you submit your application, please cite this project title in the 'how you are planning to fund your PhD' section.