CONFERENCEAbout us
The group conducts research in the field of the circular bioeconomy, offering sustainable and resource-efficient solutions to modern environmental challenges. Its research focuses on bio-resource streams, including food and biological waste, industrial by-products, and marine macro- and microalgae, as well as other primary and secondary resources. The aim of the research is to prevent waste and transform these bioresources into new value-added products. Studies use assessment and computational modelling techniques, including system dynamics modelling, life cycle analysis (LCA), carbon footprinting and metabolic modelling. These methods help present real socio-technical and biological systems, and analyse and compare different scenarios in a simulated environment. This allows the best scenario to be selected in terms of environmental and social impacts.
Team
Publications
Soloha, R., Lukasa, L. K., & Dace, E. (2024). Estimation and bio-valorisation of food industry by-products in Northern Europe. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery. doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-05423-6
Dace, E., Cascavilla, A., Bianchi, M., Chioatto, E., Zecca, E., Ladu, L., & Yilan, G. (2024). Barriers to transitioning to a circular bio-based economy: Findings from an industrial perspective. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 48, 407-418. doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.05.029
Segers, B., Nimmegeers, P., Spiller, M., Tofani, G., Jasiukaityte-Grojzdek, E., Dace, E., Kikas, T., Marchetti, J. M., Rajic, M., Yildiz, G., & Billen, P. (2024). Lignocellulosic biomass valorisation: a review of feedstocks, processes and potential value chains and their implications for the decision-making process. RSC Sustainability, 2(12), 3730-3749. doi.org/10.1039/d4su00342j
Hofmann L.C., Strauss S., Shpigel M., Guttman L., Stengel D.B., Rebours C., Gjorgovska N., Turan G., Balina K., Zammit G., Adams J.M.M., Ahsan U., Bartolo A.G., Bolton J.J., Domingues R., Dürrani Ö., Eroldogan O.T., Freitas A., Golberg A., Kremer K.I., Marques F., Milia M., Steinhagen S., Sucu E., Vargas-Murga L., Zemah-Shamir S., Zemah-Shamir Z., Meléndez-Martínez A.J. (2024). The green seaweed Ulva: tomorrow’s “wheat of the sea” in foods, feeds, nutrition, and biomaterials. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2024.2370489
Motamedian, E., Baumanis, M. R., Daugavietis, J. E., Berzina, I., Shvirksts, K., Dace, E., Liepins, J., & Stalidzans, E. (2024). A hybrid strategy for growth-associated production of sophorolipid using a reconstructed genome-scale metabolic model for the fructophilic yeast Starmerella bombicola. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 189, 541-548. doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2024.06.094
Mukamwi, M.; Somorin, T.; Soloha, R.; Dace, E. (2023) Databases for biomass and waste biorefinery – a mini-review and SWOT analysis. Bioengineered 14(1): 2286722. doi.org/10.1080/21655979.2023.2286722
Muiznieks, R.; Dace, E.; Stalidzans, E. (2023) Integrated sustainability score implementation as an objective function in sustainable metabolic engineering. Fermentation, 9(6), 548, doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9060548
Balina, K.; Soloha, R.; Suleiko, A.; Dubencovs, K.; Liepins, J.; Dace, E. (2023) Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of Microbial Sophorolipid Fermentation. Fermentation, 9(9), 839. doi.org/10.3390/fermentation9090839
Siddiqui, S. A.; Pleissner, D.; Pentjuss, A.; Gołaszewski, J.; Karwowska, A.; Dace, E.; Pahmeyer, M.; Van Miert, S.; Frooninckx, L.; Broeckx, L.; Heinz, V.; Smetana, S. (2023) Biological nitrogen recirculation to food protein – A review, Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy, 6, 100056. doi.org/10.1016/j.clcb.2023.100056
Ziemele, J.; Gendelis, S.; Dace, E. (2023) Impact of global warming and building renovation on the heat demand and district heating capacity: Case of the city of Riga. Energy, Vol. 276, 127567. doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2023.127567
Kleinberga, V.; Palkova, A.; Dace, E. (2023) How to recognise the inevitable: Latvian media narratives on climate change. Environmental Development, Vol. 45, 100816. doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2023.100816
Havukainen J. & Dace E. (2023) Waste to energy and circular economy: the case of anaerobic digestion. In: Sustainable and Circular Management of Resources and Waste Towards a Green Deal (Eds. Majeti Prasad, Marzena Smol), Elsevier, ISBN: 9780323952781. Chapter 8, pp. 105-115. Book available here.
Grausa, K.; Siddiqui, S. A.; Lameyer, N.; Wiesotzki, K.; Smetana, S.; Pentjuss, A. (2023) Metabolic modeling of Hermetia illucens larvae resource allocation for high-value fatty acid production, Metabolites, 13(6), 724. doi.org/10.3390/metabo13060724
Neiburga, K. D.; Muiznieks, R.; Zake, D. M.; Pentjuss, A.; Komasilovs, V.; Rohwer, J.; Tissier, A.; Stalidzans, E. (2023) Total Optimization Potential (TOP) approach based constrained design of isoprene and cis-abienol production in A. thaliana, Biochemical Engineering Journal, 190, 108723. doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2022.108723
Pentjuss, A.; Bolmanis, E.; Suleiko, A.; Didrihsone, E.; Suleiko, A.; Dubencovs, K.; Liepins, J.; Kazaks, A.; Vanags, J. (2023) Pichia pastoris growth—coupled heme biosynthesis analysis using metabolic modelling, Scientific Reports, 13(1), 15816. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-42865-w
Stikane, A., Dace, E., Stalidzans, E. (2022) Closing the loop in bioproduction: Spent microbial biomass as a resource within circular bioeconomy, New Biotechnology, 70, pp. 109–115. doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2022.06.001
Daugavietis, J. E., Soloha, R., Dace, E., Ziemele, J. (2022) A Comparison of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Methods for Sustainability Assessment of District Heating Systems, Energies, 15 (7). Article number: 2411. doi.org/10.3390/en15072411
Berzins, K.; Muiznieks, R.; Baumanis, M. R.; Strazdina, I.; Shvirksts, K.; Prikule, S.; Galvanauskas, V.; Pleissner, D.; Pentjuss, A.; Grube, M.; Kalnenieks, U.; Stalidzans, E.(2022) Kinetic and stoichiometric modeling-based analysis of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) production potential by Crypthecodinium cohnii from glycerol, glucose and ethanol, Marine Drugs, 20(2), 115. doi.org/10.3390/md20020115
Grausa, K.; Mozga, I.; Pleiko, K.; Pentjuss, A. (2022) Integrative gene expression and metabolic analysis tool IGEMRNA, Biomolecules, 12(4), 586. doi.org/10.3390/biom12040586
Stalidzans E., Dace E. (2021) Sustainable metabolic engineering for sustainability optimisation of industrial biotechnology, Computational and Structural Biotechnology, 19, pp. 4770–4776. doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2021.08.034
Liepins, J.; Balina, K.; Soloha, R.; Berzina, I.; Lukasa, L.K.; Dace, E. (2021) Glycolipid Biosurfactant Production from Waste Cooking Oils by Yeast: Review of Substrates, Producers and Products. Fermentation, 7, 136. doi.org/10.3390/fermentation7030136
Petrovs, R.; Stalidzans, E.; Pentjuss, A. (2021) IMFLer: A web application for interactive metabolic flux analysis and visualization, Journal of Computational Biology, 28(10), 1021–1032. doi.org/10.1089/cmb.2021.0056
Timma L., Dace E., Kristensen T., Trydeman Knudsen M. (2020) Dynamic Sustainability Assessment Tool: Case Study of Green Biorefineries in Danish Agriculture. Sustainability, 12(18). Article number: 7389. doi.org/10.3390/su12187389
Burlakovs J., Vincevica-Gaile Z., Krievans M., Jani Y., Horttanainen M., Pehme K.-M., Dace E., Setyobudi R.H., Pilecka J., Denafas G., Grinfelde I., Bhatnagar A., Rud V., Rudovica V., Mersky R.L., Anne O., Kriipsalu M., Ozola-Davidane R., Tamm T., Klavins M. (2020) Platinum Group Elements in Geosphere and Anthroposphere: Interplay among the Global Reserves, Urban Ores, Markets and Circular Economy. Minerals, 10(6), pp. 1–19. Article number: 558. doi.org/10.3390/min10060558
Timma, L., Dace, E., Trydeman Knudsen, M. (2020) Temporal Aspects in Emission Accounting - Case Study of Agriculture Sector. Energies, 13 (4). Article number: 800. doi.org/10.3390/en13040800
Dace, E., Stibe, A., Timma, L. (2020) A holistic approach to manage environmental quality by using the Kano model and social cognitive theory. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27 (2), pp. 430–443. doi.org/10.1002/csr.1828
Ramata-Stunda, A.; Valkovska, V.; Borodušķis, M.; Livkiša, D.; Kaktiņa, E.; Silamikele, B.; Borodušķe, A.; Pentjušs, A.; Rostoks, N. (2020) Development of metabolic engineering approaches to regulate the content of total phenolics, antiradical activity and organic acids in callus cultures of the highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.), Agronomy Research, 18(S3), 1860–1872. doi.org/10.15159/AR.20.054
Datasets
Kleinberga, V., Metla-Rozentāle, L., Blumfelde-Rutka, K., Skulte, I., Dace, E. (2025). Perceptions of Climate Change, Climate Policy and Communication in Latvia. Rīga Stradiņš University. doi.org/10.48510/FK2/LMO0KI
Kleinberga, V., Kliedere, S., Vašuka, D., Metla-Rozentāle, L., Blumfelde-Rutka, K., Skulte, I., Dace, E. (2024). Climate Change Narratives in Latvian Politics, Media, Business and Society. Rīga Stradiņš University. doi.org/10.48510/FK2/HBGGHF
Dace, E., Kleinberga, V. (2024). Media monitoring on climate change in Latvia. Rīga Stradiņš University. doi.org/10.48510/FK2/NHZWKK
Soloha R., Kleinberga V., Dace E. (2023). Survey on household food consumption, food waste awareness, generation and practices: The case of Latvia, January 2023. doi.org/10.48510/FK2/BDUEIO
Soloha R., Kleinberga V., Dace E. (2023). Survey on food waste awareness, generation and measurement in retail and food service sectors: The case of Latvia, January 2023. doi.org/10.48510/FK2/HF20LT
Projects
2025 – 2028 In silico metabolic analysis of red alga Galdieria sulphuraria for agricultural residue bioconversion and high-value compound production (ARISE-GS), funded by ERDF
2024 – 2027 Productive catalytic living materials: combining 3D biobased fibrillar membranes with synthetic microbial consortia to produce chemicals (LivMat), M-ERA.Net funded by the Latvian Council of Science
2023 – 2026 Recycling plastic and developing hybrid living materials by capturing greenhouse gases to produce value-added products (REPLACER), M-ERA.Net funded by the Latvian Council of Science
2022 – 2023 Socio-economic context of food waste generation in Latvia, funded by Riga Stradins University
2021 – 2023 Sustainable valorisation of fermentation waste by microbial metabolic modeling and extension of fermentation cascades (Fer2Fer), funded by ERDF
2021 – 2023 Decision Support Tool for Decarbonisation Assessment of District Heating Systems (START), funded by ERDF
2020 – 2023 Sustainable Microbial Valorisation of Waste Lipids into Biosurfactants (Waste2Surf), funded by ERDF
2020 – 2023 Decision Support Tool for an Integrated Food Waste Valorisation System (DeSTInation), funded by ERDF
2020 – 2023 Sustainable up-cycling of agricultural residues: modular cascading waste conversion system (UpWaste), a project funded by Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme FACCE SURPLUS