PhD scholarship: Thermodynamics, Design, Simulation and Benchmarking of Biofuel Processes at DTU Chemical Eng. Center for Energy Resources Engineering (CERE), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark seeks a PhD student to work on the project: Thermodynamics, design, simulation and benchmarking of biofuel processes.
A new framework at DTU contributes to the sustainable development of technologies for green synthetic fuel production from biomass. Thermochemical biomass gasification is carried out, followed by fermentation of the created syngas to biofuels. The ultimate scope is a complete design which will include energy efficient product separation, process analysis and optimization as well as comparison to competitive market Technologies.
In brief, the technological focus and scientific objectives are:
1) Fermentation of syngas to liquid (alcohols) and gaseous (methane) biofuels focusing on applying mixed microbial consortia,
2) Design of novel bioreactors, pressure control and use of suitable surfactants for increasing the gas/liquid mass transfer efficiency,
3) Use of biomimetic membranes and development of diabatic distillation for gentle and cost-efficient purification of liquid biofuels and
4) Development of an optimized process design and comparison with existing Technologies.
The technology to be developed will contribute to a more sustainable society producing energy from non-food related biomass without a catalytic conversion. Today syngas from biomass is used in combined heat and power production (CHP). By merging the CHP production with the fermentation of syngas, the processing of syngas can always follow the optimum path. That is, the final production will be easily diverted to CHP or biofuels satisfying thus the supply and demand of the biomass and energy markets. For example, when the heating demand is high, the syngas will mainly be exploited through CHP but when the heating demand is low, the syngas will be fermented to storable liquid or gaseous biofuels.
Purpose of the project
Your task is to process simulate the fermentation technologies of syngas developed in this project. This covers both methanation and liquid fuel production. You will also simulate other competitive literature methods and benchmark the technologies from a mass, energy, economic and engineering point of view. The designs will likely be carried out with the commercial process simulator Aspen Plus.
Project contents
The core of your project is to develop a thermodynamic model parameter base. You will be responsible for maintaining an existing interface which can link the thermodynamic calculation to process simulation.
You will be responsible for collecting knowledge from the project platform and modelling the observed phenomenon. Your investigations will include data from literature and you may carry out thermodynamic modelling possibly supported by experimental work. You will apply this knowledge in software programming and in a more high level process simulation interface to Aspen Plus. The CERE group has a selection of available interfaces which you may exploit. The global aim is to perform process simulation of several different syngas fermentation designs and furthermore compare these with the aim of benchmarking the performance of the various Technologies.
Relation to other projects
You will be a members of the CERE group supervised by Associate Professor Philip Fosbøl and Professor Georgios Kontogeorgis. Here you can draw on decades of thermodynamic experience. Many of the software tools you will need for this project are already available. Your project is one in a range of larger platform of projects on syngas fermentation to biofuels. You will be communicating to the team members on a regular basis. You are expected to present and discuss your ideas to the platform consortium but also to other international companies and conferences abroad. You will be responsible for publishing and reporting your findings.
Objectives
- Collect knowledge from literature and project partners
- Create thermodynamic interaction parameters for syngas fermentation systems
- Validate your findings according to project partners
- Maintain and update an interface between in-house software and process simulations
- Process simulate and compare several syngas fermentation technologies
- Write quarterly status report which describes your progress and publish your Work
Qualifications
Candidates should have a master’s degree in chemical engineering or a similar degree with an academic level equivalent to the master’s degree in engineering. There will be a focus toward your experience within thermodynamic modelling and programming plus your experience with process simulation and possible experimental background. There will be a focus towards the previous publications, if any.
Approval and Enrolment
The scholarships for the PhD degree are subject to academic approval, and the candidates will be enrolled in one of the general degree programmes of DTU. For information about the general requirements for enrolment and the general planning of the scholarship studies, please see the DTU PhD Guide.
Assessment
The assessment of the applicants will be made by Associate Professor Philip L. Fosbøl and Professor Georgios Kontogeorgis.
Salary and appointment terms
The salary and appointment terms are consistent with the current rules for PhD degree students. The period of employment is 3 years.
Further information
Further information may be obtained from Associate Professor Philip L. Fosbøl, tel.: +45 4525 2868.
You can read more about DTU Chemical Engineering on www.kt.dtu.dk/english.
Application
Please submit your online application no later than 29 September 2015. Applications must be submitted as one pdf filecontaining all materials to be given consideration. To apply, please open the link “Apply online,” fill in the online application form, and attach all your materials in English in one pdf file. The file must include:
- A letter motivating the application (cover letter)
- Curriculum vitae
- Grade transcripts and BSc/MSc diploma (an official translation into English)
- Excel sheet with translation of grades to the Danish grading system (see guidelines and excel spreadsheet here)
- Any relevant publications which you find important to the application (max 20 pages)
Candidates may apply prior to obtaining their master’s degree, but cannot begin before having received it.
All interested candidates irrespective of age, gender, race, disability, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply.
Apply no later than 29 September 2015
Apply for the job at DTU Chemical Eng. by completing the following form.