PhD Position: Optimisation of Technologies for Electrifying Chemical Processes

Are you interested in techno-economic optimisation and comparison of novel electrified processes for the large scale synthesis of platform molecules? Join the Energy & Resources group of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development for this exciting PhD project!

Your job

This PhD position is part of a large research project ‘Sunsolr: Electrification of chemical conversions’ which is funded by the Long Term Program Process Technology (LTP) set up with Industry, the Dutch funding body TKI E&I, and academia. The LTP programme is coordinated by the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT) and aims at contributing to the development of the process industry of the future. Accordingly, you will be embedded in an interdisciplinary team with four additional PhD candidates from partner universities (TU/e, TU Delft, University of Groningen, and Twente University) and with strong interaction and support from leading energy and chemical companies.

Societal relevance: The transition to a CO2 net-zero society requires a major rethinking of the energy system, with coordinated, timely deployment of several technologies. Among the different sectors that need to become CO2 neutral, the chemical industry will be confronted with a daunting, yet existential challenge: to produce large amounts of carbon-based platform molecules starting from renewable energy and non-fossil material feedstocks. Given the scale of production and associated CO2 emissions, the large capital investments of plants, and the limited time available for the transition, the defossilisation of the chemical industry is a cornerstone for a net-zero society. In this pursue, two elements are particularly important. On the one hand, the electrification of the chemical industry, which is expected to play a major role in enabling the transition from a fossil-based to a renewable-based primary energy input. On the other hand, the availability of CO2-free carbon: the chemical industry must source carbon from non-fossil feedstocks, e.g. using direct air capture, where CO2 is captured directly from air. Sunsolr aims to initiate and develop novel technologies for the direct electrification (i) of chemical conversions via electrocatalysis of pre-captured CO2, and ii) of integrated CO2 capture and conversion.

Research focus: This PhD project will be embedded in Sunsolr and will focus on the in-depth process and techno-economic assessment of the different novel electrified routes developed in the other work packages, with the goal of:

• comparing the performances and overall energy efficiencies of the different approaches; and
• providing clear guidelines and targets for the different routes to be competitive with alternative technologies.

Therefore, the overarching objective of this PhD project is to facilitate and speed up the development of novel electrified technologies for the production of bulk chemicals by providing key techno-economic insights from process and system level perspective. This will be achieved by developing and applying a model-based process and system optimisation framework. You will apply, and where required develop, mathematical methods to support the design and the understanding of the critical phenomena inside and outside the proposed technologies. The process design will identify the spectrum of technologies that must be coupled to the core electrified technologies. The system design will co-optimise size and operation of the envisioned processes when connected to the external energy (electricity) and material (CO2, H2) feedstocks, while also identifying in terms of design and operation the energy system associated to the different production routes. Finally, a detailed techno-economic assessment will integrate the technical (mass & energy balances, equipment lists) and production cost information into a detailed bottom-up engineering-economic analysis. Therefore, in this PhD project, the optimal process synthesis and techno-economic analysis will be bridged to broader, time-discretised system-level evaluations.

Your qualities

We are seeking an outstanding and highly motivated candidate with interest in the fundamental and applied aspects of process synthesis and optimization. The ideal candidate must have a Master’s degree in Engineering (possibly Chemical, Process, Mechanical, Energy or Electrical), Applied Physics, or related field. Moreover, the candidate should:

• possess excellent understanding of thermodynamics, reactor engineering, and chemical and energy conversion technologies coupled with good mathematical and programming skills;
• have experience (e.g. in design courses during master studies) in process synthesis and techno-economic evaluation (e.g. in Aspen Plus, gPROMS);
• have experience in programming languages such as Python, Matlab, Julia (Jump);
• have modelling experience with linear or mixed-integer linear programming (nice-to-have);
• have experience with machine learning, statistics and data analytics (nice-to-have);
• have strong affinity with sustainable development;
• have excellent communication skills;
• have work proficiency in English;
• enjoy working in an interdisciplinary and international, diverse environment.

We equally encourage applications from candidates interested in an academic and/or industry career.

You are not sure if you qualify for this position, but it triggered your interest? Contact us at the address given below.

Our offer

We offer:

• a position for one year, with an extension to a total of four years upon a successful assessment in the first year, and with the specific intent that it results in a doctorate within this period;
• a working week of 38 hours and a gross monthly salary between €2,872 and €3,670 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.