News – Page 2 – European Membrane Society

PhD student position in Chemical Engineering: Sustainable remediation of PFAS and fluorinated refrigerants of global concern. 4 years. Santander (Spain)

We are seeking a talented PhD candidate who will make a great contribution to the development of sustainable technologies for the remediation of fluorinated substances of global concern.
The PhD thesis will be performed in the framework of the project F2R ‘Sustainable remediation of PFAS and fluorinated refrigerants of global concern’ (PID2022-138028OB-I00), funded by the Spanish Research Agency. Project F2R is aimed at developing novel processes for the remediation of two families of very persistent man-made fluorinated chemicals, i.e., the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and the fluorinated hydrocarbon refrigerants (F-gases).
The first general objective of F2R project will address the development of ion exchange processes for capturing PFAS present in drinking water and the subsequent treatment of the captured PFAS. The second general objective addresses the development of sustainable gas separation processes using membranes for the capture, separation, and reuse of F-gases contained in refrigerant mixtures to avoid their impact on global warming.
The PhD candidate will be part of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and will be enrolled in the PhD program of Chemical Engineering, Energy and Processes at the UC.

Professor Ane Urtiaga, and Dr. Gabriel Zarca (Associate professor) will have the academic supervision responsibility.

Qualifications:
We are looking for an enthusiastic candidate capable of rapidly acquiring a degree of autonomy in the chemical engineering laboratory. Knowledge and skills in chemical engineering, water treatment, and membrane separation processes are wished. Good writing and reporting skills in English are required.
To be eligible, candidates must hold a European Master's degree in Chemical Engineering or equivalent giving access to a PhD doctorate program in the home institution.

Application due:
20/November/2023

PI: Prof. Ane Urtiaga (urtiaga@unican.es)
Co-PI: Dr. Gabriel Zarca (zarcag@unican.es)

More details here.
Link to the application form: https://web.unican.es/investigacion/convocatorias/detalle?c=608&a=539
Link to the call: https://boc.cantabria.es/boces/verAnuncioAction.do?idAnuBlob=395191

by Elsa Lasseuguette

Postdoctoral scholarship (2 years) within polymer synthesis for separation and energy applications, Department of Chemistry, UMEA University, Sweden

Postdoctoral scholarship (2 years) within polymer synthesis for separation and energy applications.

The Department of Chemistry is offering a postdoctoral scholarship within the project focused on synthesizing polymers for separation and energy applications. The postdoctoral project involves the synthesis of homo- and block-copolymers tailored for use in separation and energy applications. The scholarship is full-time for two years with access from January 1, 2024, or by mutual agreement. Last day to apply is October 31, 2023.

More details here

by Elsa Lasseuguette

Postdoctoral Fellow in battery separator research, Department of Chemical engineering, NTNU, Norway

About the position

The postdoctoral fellowship position is a temporary position where the main goal is to qualify for work in senior academic positions.

The successful applicant will work for the 3S battery project: “Super selective separators for battery applications”. This project is funded by the Research Council of Norway through the Technological Convergence call. SINTEF industry (Norway) and Uppsala University (Sweden) are the project partners. The objective of the 3S battery project is to develop and engineer tailored separators enabling high electrochemical performances and long cyclic life in Li-S batteries. The successful applicant will be involved in the design, fabrication, and characterization of separators with nano-scale architectures and functionalities to address the challenges in Li-S batteries. The tasks may require experience in membrane and thin film fabrication, characterization, nanocomposite design, and battery assembly and testing.

The selected candidate will join the Membrane Laboratory in the Department of Chemical Engineering and work closely with the Battery Laboratory in the Department of Material Sciences at NTNU. These laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for the fabrication and characterization of nanocomposite, membranes and thin films, and battery assembly and evaluation.

The position will report to Prof. Liyuan Deng. The immediate leader of the position is the Head of Department of Chemical Engineering.

More details: Job description

by Elsa Lasseuguette

PhD within battery separator research, Department of Chemical engineering, NTNU, Norway

About the position
We have a 3 year vacancy for a PhD Research Fellow in battery separator research at Department of Chemical engineering https://www.ntnu.edu/chemeng.

For a position as a PhD Research Fellow, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree.

The successful candidate will work for the 3S battery project: “Super selective separators for battery applications”. This project is funded by the Research Council of Norway through the Technological Convergence call. SINTEF industry (Norway) and Uppsala University (Sweden) are the project partners. The objective of the 3S battery project is to develop and engineer tailored separators enabling high electrochemical performances and long cyclic life in Li-S batteries.

The PhD candidate will be involved in the design, fabrication, and characterization of separators with nano-scale architectures and functionalities to address the challenges in Li-S batteries. The tasks may require experience in membrane and thin film fabrication, characterization, nanocomposite design, and battery assembly and testing.

The position will report to Prof. Liyuan Deng. The immediate leader of the position is the Head of Department of Chemical Engineering.

More details: Job description

by Elsa Lasseuguette

EMS Webinar - Wednesday, October 4th 2023, at 4:00 PM (CET) - Prof Soraya Malinga – Dendritic polymer integrated nanostructured membranes for water remediation

Title: Dendritic polymer integrated nanostructured membranes for water remediation

Abstract:
Water pollution is one of the top major problems around the world, especially in developing countries of which South Africa and most African countries make up the number in these statistics. Currently, the demand for safe drinking water has increased dramatically worldwide due to population growth, development of urban life and industrialization. Pollution of water sources limits the availability of water that can be used for human consumption. Thus, the presence of organic, inorganic, and bacterial pollutants dramatically affects the quality of human life. Thus, this work will be an overview of the development and application of nanostructured membranes targeted for the removal of prevalent and emerging pollutants in water. The role of nanostructured membranes as a promising technology for water treatment due to their antibacterial, photocatalytic and biocatalytic properties will be highlighted.
Biography:

Prof Soraya Malinga is an Associate Professor and co-Director for the Joint Research Centre for Water, Environmental Science and Technology (JRC-WEST) at the University of Johannesburg, Department of Chemical Sciences. The focus of Prof Malinga’s research is on membrane science and water research. She has served as a reference group member and panel for several scientific bodies such as the Water Research Commission and the National Research Foundation. She is a board member for the African Membrane Society, which is an organisation that encourages dialogue and collaboration among all African Universities in issues pertaining to the use of membrane technology in solving problems in the water and energy sectors. In 2018, she was honoured for her research as a runner up under the ‘Distinguished Young Women Researchers-Natural (Physical and Life) and Engineering Sciences’ category by the South African Women in Science Awards in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology. Prof Malinga was recently named as a National Science and Technology Forum-South32 awards finalist in the Engineering Research Capacity Development category.

Date and time: Wednesday, October 4th 2023, at 4:00 PM (CET)

Webinar Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/EuropeanMembraneSocietyEMS

by Elsa Lasseuguette

3 Research positions, Membrane Materials and Processes (Prof. Kitty Nijmeijer), Eindhoven University of Technology

Postdoc on Electro-osmotic drying of diluted biomass streams (3 years)
This project is part of a large Dutch academic-industrial research program entitled ELECTRIFIED. Its aims is to develop key enabling technologies and consists of multiple PhD and PD research projects. The main objective of this ELECTRIFIED research program is to develop and explore electrically driven dewatering technologies for the food and biobased industry.
Drying alone represents almost 25% of all energy used in the processing industry. Sustainable food and biobased processing can only be realized by replacing our current evaporative dewatering processes by processes using more effective driving forces such as electricity. ELECTRIFIED uses such electric driving forces to extract water from biomaterials. This is done by making use of a combination of molecularly designed electroresponsive hydrogels, well-controlled electro-osmosis and electrohydrodynamic drying in dilute, semi solid and solid regimes.

Postdoc on Deep Removal of CO2 and InnoVative Electrification concepts (2 years)
The TU/e postdoc is involved in the indirect electrochemical regeneration process (Zero-Emissions Ultra-Stripping) developed by Hovyu (Dutch partner). In this concept carbonate and bicarbonate solutions are mixed in a neutralization tank with a weak acid forming the corresponding organic salts and up to 10 bars of CO2. Then the organic salt is treated in an electrochemical cell to generate the hydroxide and acid solutions. The applied organic acids are industrially produced by fermentation and are present in the fermentation broth in the form of organic salts. An electromembrane process is then used to recover and concentrate the organic acid.
The challenge of this PD project is to develop bipolar membranes (BPMs) using sophisticated methods such as electrospinning, that are used for water spitting to produce the acid and base and to optimize the electrochemical cell design in order to minimize the energy demand.

PhD on Developing high-throughput membrane adsorbers via electrospinning for selective PFAS removal (4 years)
Development of a selective membrane adsorber platform to capture selectively components such as PFAS requires: (1) The use of green and sustainable materials: green solvents, (biobased)polymers, functional organic and inorganic additives to enhance affinity and selective adsorption. (2) Control over functionality, specificity, stability and tuning of porosity, pore size and pore size distribution is critical to set the ultimate separation performance, the throughput, flow rates, concentrations, etc. (3) Assembling of developed structures into modules is a challenge, but essential such that ultimately also large-scale applications are within reach.
The proposed approach is centered around electrospinning: a very versatile technology offering the possibility to produce nanofibers together forming very open, highly porous, robust polymer structures with a low flow resistance. When functionalized such hierarchical porous structures are able to selectively bind specific components for e.g. direct capturing of unwanted components or recycle and reuse.

by Elsa Lasseuguette

PhD position: Design of microbial membrane structured microreactors and immobilised cells for intensified sustainable bioproduction, Toulouse, France

PhD position: Design of microbial membrane structured microreactors and immobilised cells for intensified sustainable bioproduction

This PhD proposal is part of a project funded by the University of Toulouse and Région Occitanie.

The main objective of this thesis is to design an original reactor in which a hydrogel is used as an membrane-supported inclusion matrix, to enable both immobilization and densification of cells in order to enhance the performance of bioproductions within spatial constraints of containment and/or water consumption.

The PhD will be supervised by Dr. ALFENORE Sandrine (TBI, Toulouse Biotechnology Institute) and Dr. Clémence Coetsier (LGC, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering – Toulouse).

Profile: The applicant should have a Master degree in Materials science or engineering and/or process or bioprocess engineering. Curiosity and interest in methodological developments and interdisciplinary topics is essential. Knowledge / experience in membrane processes applied to bioprocesses, experience in microbial cultures and/or microscopic techniques will be an additional asset for this project. Motivation, autonomy, team spirit and working skills will be the main motors for a successful project.

More details here

by Elsa Lasseuguette

EMS Webinar - Wednesday, September 6th 2023, at 4:00 PM (CET) - Naser Tavajohi – Beyond the dissolution: The importance of solvent in membrane formation by phase inversion

Title: Beyond the dissolution: The importance of solvent in membrane formation by phase inversion

Abstract:
Membranes have significant potential to play a crucial role in the next generation of chemical plants and the sustainability of chemical industries. Currently, polymeric membranes dominate the market due to their low cost, scalability, and mechanical properties. Phase inversion is the most popular method for preparing polymeric membranes, both in industry and academia. However, membrane manufacturing processes through phase inversion are far from sustainable and environmentally friendly. A significant amount of contaminated water is produced annually by the membrane manufacturing industry, and the most popular solvent for membrane fabrication is restricted in the European Union.
This presentation provides an overview of the sustainability of the membrane fabrication process using phase inversion. Following that, the use of various types of green solvents for membrane fabrication, to which Prof. Tavajohi has contributed, will be discussed. These include Tributyl O-acetyl citrate (ATBC), triethylene glycol diacetate (TEGDA), Methyl-5-(dimethylamino)-2-methyl-5-oxopentanoate (RhodiasolvⓇ PolarClean), cyclic carbonates (ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, butylene carbonate), non-ionic deep eutectic solvents, dibasic esters, and ionic liquids as alternative solvents for membrane manufacturing. The merits and drawbacks associated with different solvent choices will be presented. Furthermore, the significance of solvents in fabricating membranes with identical polymorphism will be discussed.

Biography:

Dr. Naser Tavajohi is an Associate Professor in the Chemistry Department at Umeå University. He began his research journey as a membranologist, using machine learning for modeling and simulating membrane formation through phase inversion. In 2011, Naser received a scholarship from the South Korean government's World Class University Program and started his Ph.D. studies at Hanyang University, collaborating with the Institute of Membrane Technology-National Research Council of Italy (ITM-CNR). He earned his Ph.D. in 2015. Following two postdoctoral experiences, Naser became an Assistant Professor in Umeå University's Chemistry Department in November 2018. In 2019, he set up a lab focused on membrane separation, equipped with advanced tools for gas separation and membrane fabrication. In 2021, he was chosen as a promising young researcher by the Royal Swedish Academy Skytteanska Samfundet at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Umeå University. In 2022, Naser was promoted to Associate Professor. Throughout his academic journey, Naser published 47 papers in respected journals like Nat Rev Mat, Adv. Mat., Adv Sci, J M Sci, etc. He also holds a patent, contributed to 9 book chapters, and co-edited a book titled 'Polymeric Membrane Formation by Phase Inversion.
Naser Tavajohi has joined the editorial board of the Journal of Membrane Science as an Early Career Editorial Board (https://lnkd.in/dhPsNZ2i).

Date and time: Wednesday, September 6th 2023, at 4:00 PM (CET)