The iMooX-course “Tailored Materials and Enzymes for Industrial Processes – Sustainability and Industrial Applications” focusses on how biocatalysis can be implemented at industrial scale, and will show how enzymatic solutions can become environmentally-friendly and industrially relevant at the same time. Two Units are envisaged. The first Unit, covering four lectures, will provide the fundamentals of sustainability, discussing from environmental metrics to the use of biogenic resources and some concepts related to bioeconomy. The first two will show how the environmental impact of biocatalytic reactions can be measured with meaningful and easy-to-implement metrics, and how a broader analysis can be made by implementing Life-Cycle-Assessments (LCA) strategies. The other two will explain the current transition from petroleum-based chemicals to a new paradigm based on biomasses as feedstocks. The second Unit, composed of two lectures, will show different biocatalytic industrial cases, emphasizing in each case why enzymes provide an advantage, based on selectivity, mild reaction conditions, versatility in different reaction media, etc. Overall, a broad perspective on the possibilities of biocatalysis at industrial scale will be given. The Units will be completed with some interviews between young scientists and industrial biotechnology leaders and experimental videos. After each lecture, a questionnaire must be completed and passed to successfully end the corresponding unit. The course is not only taught for students at BSc. and MSc. study levels but also to attract attention from industrial chemists interested in applying enzymes to synthesize chemicals for our daily use.

While this course can stand alone, it has been designed as part of a three MOOC series of “Tailored Materials and Enzymes for industrial Processes”:

1. “Tailored Materials and Enzymes for Industrial Processes – Basic Module”

2. “Tailored Materials and Enzymes for Industrial Processes – Advanced Module”

3. “Tailored Materials and Enzymes for Industrial Processes – Sustainability Module”

We highly recommend attending all these three MOOCs in the intended order for the best learning experience.

This course has been developed and realized in the frame of the project INTERfaces - Heterogeneous biocatalysis reaction cascades training network (H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Innovative Training Networks (ITN) – European Industrial Doctorates (EID)). 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860414.