TUMCREATE Research Fellow Nikolaus Stellner wins Evonik Circularity Open Challenge 2024

15.10.2024

 

We are thrilled to announce that Nikolaus Stellner, TUMCREATE research fellow from Proteins4Singapore (P4SG) research program, has won the Evonik Circularity Open Challenge 2024. 

 

Nikolaus, who recently concluded his practical work as a PhD student at the Werner Siemens-Chair for Synthetic Biotechnology, Technical University of Munich (TUM), demonstrated exceptional creativity, innovation, and scientific excellence. Building on his work in cellular agriculture and valorisation of biogenic waste streams, Nikolaus put forward an award-winning solution that showcases how scientific ingenuity can drive sustainable practices. 

 

He leveraged on his experience in biogenic waste stream valorisation which involves transforming waste materials into different marketable products — to propose a solution to Evonik’s challenge on: "What can you do with an aqueous mixture of acrylic acid, formaldehyde, and acetic acid?" 

 

 

To address the challenge, he focused on utilising a by-product from the German specialty chemicals company's amino acid production process.  

 

“I knew that Evonik was looking for an application in animal nutrition so I tried to find something that would provide some value as a feed product.” said Nikolaus who holds a Bachelor's degree in Nutritional Sciences and a Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology from TUM. 

 

Although he quickly identified the product, there were some challenges initially. 

 

“I knew relatively fast which product I wanted to go for, but working out how to get there took some time. The goal was to reuse the aqueous mixture as efficiently as possible and to minimise any waste products.” he continued. 

 

His success in the challenge has earned him an invitation to present his idea to Evonik’s Animal Nutrition Research and Development team, alongside the other top winners. 

 

“I will put extra focus on the technical and economic feasibility,” Nikolaus said as he prepares for this exciting opportunity to contribute to sustainable animal feed solutions and advance the circular economy. 

 

At TUMCREATE, Nikolaus is part of a pioneering team led by Prof Thomas Brueck, focusing on microalgae-based protein production as part of the P4SG research initiative. The project aims to locally cultivate microalgae as a source of alternative proteins and to use the biomass for protein-based foods, to support Singapore’s “30 by 30” goal of enhancing food security through innovation. 

 

 

By cultivating microalgae and extracting high-quality protein for food application, P4SG is setting new benchmarks in sustainable food production. 

 

We wish Nikolaus all the best in the upcoming pitch, and we are looking forward to see how his proposal will be implemented.