Master of Science in Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering - Biomass Refining

Career opportunities

As a graduate of the programme, you will have the skills and knowledge to work as a pacesetter of your field in various managerial, planning and research duties serving the industry or related stakeholders, the scientific community or public sector.

Post-graduate study options

Eligibility for doctoral studies.

Tuition fees and scholarships

Non-EU/EEA students selected to the study option will be charged a tuition fee of €15000 per academic year. They are eligible to apply for scholarships awarded from the Aalto University Scholarship programme.

Learning outcomes

After graduating from the major Biomass Refining, you:

• are able to describe the global availability of biomass resources and can formulate scientifically justified arguments on the sustainable use of biomass.
• can give an overall description of biomass structure, from macro-structural aspects to microscopic and molecular level the emphasis being on the plant cell wall architecture and the structure and interactions of lignocellulosic components (cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses, resins and inorganic compounds).
• can identify the principal cellular organisms relevant in biomass refining and describe and apply the principles and practices in (bio)catalysis and explain how biosynthesis of plant cell wall constituents and cellular metabolites proceeds.
• can model and simulate mass and energy phenomena in multiphase systems and are able to calculate material and energy balances of complex systems.
• have a thorough knowledge of the separation methods used in biomass refining, and based on this knowledge can formulate suggestions for practical applications.
• can predict and describe chemical reactions of biomass components in different conditions and can design and perform experiments to test the hypotheses.
• can give detailed scientific and technical descriptions on the industrial-scale mechanical, thermochemical, chemical, and biochemical methods for biomass fractionation into platforms (carbohydrates, lignin, extractives).
• are able to suggest feasible and sustainable production schemes for value-added products from the platforms, including LCA analysis of the products.
• can perform biomass fractionation experiments in practice and can use the most relevant analytical methods and equipment for analysing and characterising the products.
• demonstrate an understanding of societal, economic, and environmental effects of engineering solutions.

Structure of studies

Two years of full-time Master’s programme of 120 ECTS credits.

Degree includes:

• 65 cr major dependent studies
• 30 cr Master’s thesis
• 25 cr electives

Major or specialization fields

The application target defines the major, please choose the major/application target carefully.

Thesis

Students are required to complete a Master's thesis, which is a research assignment with a workload corresponding to 30 ECTS credits. Master's theses are typically performed in cooperation with the industry or in the research project(s) of the department(s).

Internationalisation

The study environment in the programme is strongly international and studies are conducted in multicultural groups. The international atmosphere shows in everyday life at the school, where 37 per cent of academic personnel is from abroad. Our teaching methods support networking with people from diverse backgrounds. Aalto University offers many possibilities for you to develop your global competence by:

• completing part of the degree abroad, for example, a minor, in an international partner university as an exchange student.
• choosing courses with the intercultural approach, learning foreign languages and/or becoming a student tutor for international students.
• conducting practical training or Master’s thesis outside Finland.
• taking summer courses abroad.
• several funding options available for internationalization.

Corporate and other collaboration

One of the strengths of this Master’s programme is the close cooperation with the industry: from industry assignments, projects in courses and special courses with teachers from the industry to conduct your Master’s thesis in a company. Furthermore, field trips and excursions to companies and research institutes of the field give new perspectives to studying. We recommend you to take part in these activities to enhance your position in the international job market. Many of the Finnish companies in the field operate internationally. In addition, departments have academic co-operation with high-quality international universities and organisations.

You can include multidisciplinary studies to your degree by choosing courses from fields of arts and business within Aalto University. You can even take courses from other Finnish universities via The Flexible Study Right Agreement (JOO).

Requirements

Programme-specific admission requirements

Applicants to the programme must first meet the general eligibility and language requirements that are common to all Master's programmes in Science and Technology.

The following principles apply during the academic evaluation of eligible applications. These principles are revised annually.

The student selection process is competitive. The applicant’s suitability for the programme is evaluated. The best applicants are granted admission to the programme. The selection of students is primarily based on the application documents. Not all eligible applicants will necessarily be admitted, CHEM Master’s programme does not have a minimum quota to be fulfilled.

The programmes reserve the right to interview the applicants if it is necessary to clarify the applicant’s motivation or other information in the application.

Complementary studies

Students admitted to the Master's Programme in Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering may be required to take complementary studies, max 20 credits. Complementary studies may not be included in the degree of Master of Science (Tech).

The content and number of the complementary courses depend on your previous studies. The complementary studies will be set latest in September.