Graduate Cluster: AUFBRUCH

Graduate Cluster: AUFBRUCH - Shaping the transformation to a sustainable regional bioeconomy

AUFBRUCH is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the structural transformation in the Rhineland region. The graduate cluster includes eight partners in and around the Rhineland: RWTH Aachen University, FH Aachen, the Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (CLIB), TU Dortmund University, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Jülich Research Center, TH Cologne, and Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. By combining expertise in biotechnology, chemistry, process engineering, logistics, economics, social sciences, and spatial planning, the cluster aims to significantly advance the transformation of the Rhineland region into a sustainable regional bioeconomy.

The funded and associated projects of AUFBRUCH are thematically categorized into six innovation areas. The equipment design group is part of Innovation Area 3, focusing on the integration of immobilized enzymes in automated, modular plants that operate autonomously. Based on local raw materials, existing processes are redesigned to compete with fossil-based approaches. This involves developing new enzyme immobilization methods and innovative process techniques for scale-up, scale-down, automation, and digitization, as well as reactor designs for immobilized enzymes.

Project partners from TU Dortmund involved in AUFBRUCH include Bioprocess Engineering (Prof. Dr. Lütz), the Laboratory of Thermodynamics (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Held), the Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry (Prof. Dr. Vogt, Dr. Seidensticker), the Laboratory of Plant and Process Design (PD Dr.-Ing. Wohlgemuth), the Social Research Center Dortmund (Prof. Dr. Howaldt), and the UNESCO Chair of TVET and Competence Development for the Future of Work (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Schröder).

Information on the project