ON-SITE COMPONENT (13-17 July, 2026)

DAY 1 | Monday 13, July 2026

9:00-9:10 | Registration

9:10-9:30 | Welcome and course introduction

Mª del Rosario Rodero/Octavio García (organizing committee)/Pedro A. Encina (Head of the Institute of Sustainable Processes, ISP)/José Ramón González (Director of the Doctorate School). Welcome to the Biological Carbon Capture Technologies Course and presentation of the ISP.

Module 1. Organic carbon capture and bioconversion via anaerobic non-phototrophic processes

9:15-11:00 | Mª del Rosario Rodero Raya (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Biogas production and biological technologies for biogas upgrading

11:00-11:30 | Coffee break

11:30-12:30 | Mª del Rosario Rodero Raya (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Rethinking biogas: innovative applications in biorefineries

12:30-13:30 | José de Jesús Montoya Rosales (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Biohydrogen production via dark fermentation

13:30-15:00 1 Lunch

15:00-17:00 | Alice Lanfranchi (Ghent University). Bioprocess coupling with dark fermentation

17:00-18:00 | Technical visit to the laboratories of the Institute of Sustainable Processes

Day 2 | Tuesday, 14 July 2026

9:00-10:00 | Alice Lanfranchi (Ghent University). EU regulation and technology transfer in biological carbon capture

Module 2. Photosynthetic bioprocesses for carbon capture and recycling

10:00-11:00 | Luis Diaz Allegue (Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp). Introduction to Purple Phototrophic Bacteria (PPB)

11:00-11:30 | Coffee break

11:30-12:30 | Luis Diaz Allegue (Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp). Purple Phototrophic bacteria and resource recovery: why are they interesting?

12:30-13:30 | Visit to the Historic Library of the University of Valladolid

13:30-15:00 | Lunch

15:00-17:00 | Luis Diaz Allegue (Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp). Workshop 1: Fundamentals of mechanistic modelling of bioprocesses based on Purple Phototrophic bacteria

Day 3 | Wednesday 15 July 2026

Module 2. Photosynthetic bioprocesses for carbon capture and recycling

9:00-10:00 | Luis Diaz Allegue (Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp). Designing purple biorefineries: Integrating PPB into circular processes

10:00-11:00 | Luis Diaz Allegue (Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp). Purple cleantech for food and feed: Protein and pigment production

11:00-11:30 | Coffee break

11:30-12:30 | Simone Krings (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Carbon capture in oxygenic photosynthetic microorganisms

12:30-13:30 | Laura Vargas Estrada (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Boosting microalgae biotechnology via nanoparticle addition

13:30-15:00 | Lunch

15:00-17:00 | Workshop 2: Development and implementation of a model for enriched purple phototrophic bacteria for PHA production

Day 4 | Thursday 16 July 2026

Module 3. The Carboxylate Platform: from waste carbon to bioproducts

9:00-10:00 | Octavio García Depraect (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Microbial recycling of bioplastics into carboxylates via mixed-culture fermentation

10:00-11:00 | Marcela Levío Raimán (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Carboxylates as a novel carbon source for lipid and protein production in a lichen-like system

11:00-11:30 | Coffee break

11:30-13:30 | Alice Lanfranchi (Ghent University). The carboxylate platform: anaerobic fermentation for the production of chemicals, plastics and materials

13:30-15:00 | Lunch

Module 4. Anaerobic microbial cultivation for conversion of C1 substrates

15:00-16:00 | Alice Lanfranchi (Ghent University). Acetogens: alternative C1 feedstocks and mixotrophy

16:00-17:00 | Andrés Felipe Torres Franco (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Gas-liquid mass transfer in biocarbon technologies: fundamentals, challenges and opportunities

Day 5 | Friday 17 July 2026

Module 5. Analysis of microbial communities in carbon conversion systems

9:00-11:00 | José de Jesús Montoya Rosales (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Workshop 3: Using DADA2 in R to Build Reproducible Microbial Community Analysis Workflows in Biological Carbon Conversion systems

11:00-11:30 | Coffee break

11:30-13:00 | José de Jesús Montoya Rosales (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Workshop 3: Using DADA2 in R to Build Reproducible Microbial Community Analysis Workflows in Biological Carbon Conversion systems

13:00-14:30 | Lunch

14:30-16:30 | Project preparation by students. Instructors: Alice Lanfranchi (Ghent University) and María del Rosario Rodero Raya (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa)

16:30-17:00 | Coffee break

17:00-17:30 | Mª del Rosario Rodero Raya /Octavio García Depraect (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Questionnaire and course closure.

ONLINE COMPONENT (20-23 July 2026)

Day 1 | Monday 20 July 2026

Module 1. Organic carbon capture and bioconversion via anaerobic non-phototrophic processes

9:00-10:00 | Andrea Turolla (Politecnico di Milano). Biological carbon sequestration from waste streams

Module 2. Photosynthetic bioprocesses for carbon capture and recycling

10:00-11:00 | Elena Ficara (Politecnico di Milano). Microalgae-based bioremediation

11:00-11:15 | Break

11:15-12:15 | Giuseppina Oliva (University of Salerno). Biorefinery perspectives for the valorization of microalgae biomass with circular economy approach

Module 4. Anaerobic microbial cultivation for conversion of C1 substrates

12:15-13:15 | Ioannis Vyrides (Cyprus University of Technology). Iron-Driven Bioconversion: Turning CO2 into methane and acetic acid with metallic iron and anaerobic microbes

Day 2 | Tuesday 21 July 2026

Module 5. Microbial protein production coupled to carbon capture

9:00-10:00 | Myrsini Sakarika (Ghent University). Coupling microbial protein production to carbon capture and utilization

10:00-11:00 | Silvio Matassa (Università degli Studi di Napoli «Federico II”). From waste to protein through gas-based mixed microbial culture fermentation

11:00-11:15 Break

Module 6. Microbial electrochemical technologies for resource recovery from gaseous and liquid waste streams

11:15-12:15 | María Fernanda Pérez Bernal (Laboratoire de Biotechnologie de l’Environnement, INRAE). Microbial electrochemical technologies: main anodic and cathodic based processes for resource recovery

12:15-13:15 | Meritxell Romans Casas (Universitat de Girona). Steering microbial electrosynthesis towards the production of carboxylates

Day 3 | Wednesday 22 July 2026

9:00-10:00 | Ángel Estevez Alonso (Ghent University). Low pH fermentations as key environments in the transition toward a sustainable circular economy

Module 7. Techno-economic analysis of bioprocesses

10:00-12:00 | María Molinos Senante (Institute of Sustainable Processes, UVa). Techno-economic analysis of bioprocesses for resource recovery

Day 4 | Thursday 23 July 2026

9:00-11:00 | Student presentations and course closure