Abstract: Aureobasidium is omnipresent and can be isolated from air, water bodies, soil, wood, and other plant materials, as well as inorganic materials such as rocks and marble. A total of 32 species of this fungal genus have been identified at the level of DNA, of which Aureobasidium pullulans is best known. Aureobasidium is of interest for a sustainable economy because it can be used to produce a wide variety of compounds, including enzymes, polysaccharides, and biosurfactants. Moreover, it can be used to promote plant growth and protect wood and crops. To this end, Aureobasidium cells adhere to wood or plants by producing extracellular polysaccharides, thereby forming a biofilm. This biofilm provides a sustainable alternative to petrol-based coatings and toxic chemicals. This and the fact that Aureobasidium biofilms have the potential of self-repair make them a potential engineered living material avant la lettre. Key points: •Aureobasidium produces products of interest to the industry •Aureobasidium can stimulate plant growth and protect crops •Biofinish of A. pullulans is a sustainable alternative to petrol-based coatings •Aureobasidium biofilms have the potential to function as engineered living materials.
TheUniversity of Twente, SaxionUniversityofAppliedSciences, ROCofTwente(vocationaleducation), centre of expertise TechYourFuture and the H2Hub Twente, in which various regional hydrogen interested corporations are involved, work together to shape a learning community (LC) for the development of innovative hydrogen technology. The cooperation between company employees, researchers and students provides a means to jointly work on solutions for real-life problems within the energy transition. This involves a cross-chain collaboration of technical programs, professorships and (field) experts, supported by human capital specialists. In the LC, a decentralized hydrogen production unit with storage of green hydrogen is designed and built. The main question for this research is: how can the design and construction process of an alkaline electrolyzer be arranged in a challenge based LC in which students, company employees (specialists) and researchers from the three educational institutions can learn, innovate, build-up knowledge and benefit? In this project the concept of a LC is developed and implemented in collaboration with companies and knowledge institutions at different levels. The concrete steps are described below: 1. Joint session between Human Resource and Development (HRD) specialists and engineers/researchers to explore the important factors for a LC. The results of this session will be incorporated into a blueprint for the LC by the human capital specialists. 2. The project is carried out according to the agreements of the blueprint. The blueprint is continuously updated based on the periodic reflections and observed points for improvement. 3. Impact interviews and periodic reflection review the proceeding of the LC in this engineering process. The first impact interview reveals that the concept of the LC is very beneficial for companies. It increases overall knowledge on hydrogen systems, promotes cooperation and connection with other companies and aids to their market proposition as well. Students get the opportunity to work in close contact with multiple company professionals and build up a network of their own. Also the cooperation with students from different disciplines broadens their view as a professional, something which is difficult to achieve in a mono-disciplinary project.
MULTIFILE
The consistent demand for improving products working in a real-time environment is increasing, given the rise in system complexity and urge to constantly optimize the system. One such problem faced by the component supplier is to ensure their product viability under various conditions. Suppliers are at times dependent on the client’s hardware to perform full system level testing and verify own product behaviour under real circumstances. This slows down the development cycle due to dependency on client’s hardware, complexity and safety risks involved with real hardware. Moreover, in the expanding market serving multiple clients with different requirements can be challenging. This is also one of the challenges faced by HyMove, who are the manufacturer of Hydrogen fuel cells module (https://www.hymove.nl/). To match this expectation, it starts with understanding the component behaviour. Hardware in the loop (HIL) is a technique used in development and testing of the real-time systems across various engineering domain. It is a virtual simulation testing method, where a virtual simulation environment, that mimics real-world scenarios, around the physical hardware component is created, allowing for a detailed evaluation of the system’s behaviour. These methods play a vital role in assessing the functionality, robustness and reliability of systems before their deployment. Testing in a controlled environment helps understand system’s behaviour, identify potential issues, reduce risk, refine controls and accelerate the development cycle. The goal is to incorporate the fuel cell system in HIL environment to understand it’s potential in various real-time scenarios for hybrid drivelines and suggest secondary power source sizing, to consolidate appropriate hybridization ratio, along with optimizing the driveline controls. As this is a concept with wider application, this proposal is seen as the starting point for more follow-up research. To this end, a student project is already carried out on steering column as HIL
