Zeynep Cetecioglu Gurol

Today’s technology causes increasing energy demand and fossil fuels, which are associated with climate change concern, are still the main energy source. So we need to design next generation wastewater treatment plants, which produce energy more than their consumption. For this reason, my recent research activities are oriented towards developing biorefinery concept to gain energy and also valuable products from waste streams for industrial applications by combining engineering and molecular microbiology tools.

There are 3 research lines in my research group:

1) Energy and value-added product recovery such as biogas, VFAs, PHA, single cell protein from different waste streams and model substrates in lab and pilot scale bioreactors

2) Developing synthetic community and microbial ecology of mixed culture for feedstock production

3) Phosphorus mining from anoxic sediments

Education

2006- 2011 PhD, Environmental Biotechnology, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Istanbul, Turkey

Joint PhD between Turkey (ITU) and Spain (Catalan Institute for Water Research-ICRA).

Thesis: Evaluation of Anaerobic Biodegradability Characteristics of Antibiotics and Toxic/Inhibitory Effect on Mixed Microbial Culture

2004-2006 MSc, Environmental Biotechnology, ITU, Istanbul, Turkey

2002-2006 BSc, Molecular Biology and Genetics (Double Degree), ITU, Turkey

2000-2004 BSc, Environmental Engineering (Double Degree), ITU, Istanbul, Turkey

On-going Projects

Cold-adapted biorefinert concept for energy efficient and carbon neutral valorization of waste from food systems (COLDREFINERY)-NORDFORSK (2024-2028)

Improved Valorization of Marine Sources and Processing Waste For Resource Efficient Blue Food/Feed and Environmentally Sustainable Materials Development (SEAREFINERY)-Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (2024-2027)

Bioconversion of waste streams to produce high-value functional chemical products: fermentation and downstream purification (BioChem)-FORMAS (2024-2026)

Unlock the source of blackwater: from separated wastewater to value-added products (NEEDED)-Åforsk (2024-2027)

Symbiotic, circular bioremediation systems and biotechology solutions for improved environmental, economic and social sustainability in pollution control (SYMBIOREM)- Horizon Europe (2022-2026)

Completed Projects

Prototype Testing of a Novel Engineered Floating Wetland System in the Utö-NORDE

Bioengineering Approach for Baltic Sea-Nordlander Family

Next Generation Bioplastic Production

Production of sustainable and pure chemicals from waste-derived volatile fatty acids

(PureVFA) - Vinnova Bioinnovaton Programme

SARS-CoV-2 in sewage water as a tool for monitoring (SARS-CoV-2@WWTP)-Knut och Alice Wallenberg-SciLifeLab

Methodology for environmental sustainability assessment in the early design stage of a resource recovery system-MENToR-FORMAS

Microbial Dimethylsulphide Degradation in Anoxic Baltic Sea Sediments (UK-Sweden Bilateral Project)-NERC

Development of a Carbon Recovery System for Sustainable Sewage Treatment Plants-CoRe (KTH Starting Grant)

Carbon Neutral Next Generation Wastewater Treatment Plants-CarbonNextGen (Energimyndigheten)

Enhancement of Volatile Fatty Acid Production from Dairy Wastewater-EnVFAPro(Vinnova&Marie Curie Fellow)