Research Fellow in Separation Technologies at Polymeric Materials & NanoComposites (PMNC) Group, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Post Specification: Research Fellow in Separation Technologies at Polymeric Materials & NanoComposites (PMNC) Group, AMBER/School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. (www.pmnc.ie )
Fixed-term Contract or Specific Purpose Contract – Specific Purpose Contract-Full time
Salary: Appointment will be made on points 1 of the IUA post-doctorate researcher Level 1 salary scale PD1 at points 1-3 in line with Government Pay Policy [€43,907 to €46,447 per annum] based on the experience, appointment will be made no higher than point 3
Closing date: Until filled.
Position:
An experienced researcher is required in separation technologies and wastewater treatment for an Industry-driven project, IMPRESS (https://impress-he.eu/, co-funded by Horizon Europe. This EU project centred around the EU bioeconomy and blue growth strategies to build a sustainable and zero-waste aquatic food value chain. This four-year multidisciplinary project, led by Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, brings together a consortium of 14 partners involving academic and research institutes, business associations, non-profit organisations and SMEs from seven countries. The project will develop tangible solutions for advancing European marine and freshwater bio-based economies, leveraging the underutilised marine and freshwater low trophic species.
This current project at TCD mainly focuses on developing the separation process for processing water generated from marine-based industries. The project involves the lab scale evaluation of various pre-treatment and separation technologies followed by a scale-up of the best-selected process for recovering value-added components and removing other contaminates from marine industry processing water. This project involves working in collaboration with 14 partners and process development, intensification and scale-up of the best separation process involving various technologies, e.g., precipitation, pre-treatments, membranes separations, ion exchange resins, adsorbent and other suitable technologies to remove/recover various value-added components from marine-processing wastewater to improve sustainability.
Standard Duties and Responsibilities of the Post
The post holder will be responsible for developing processes for removing/recovering components from wastewater from marine-based/food industries and contributing to developing the sustainable and zero-waste aquatic food value chain. This project required working knowledge of ICP-MS, GC-MS, HPLC, UV-Vis, Metal analysis, COD, BOD, Protein, vitamin, and amino acid analysis, and other analytical tools. He/she will be expected to run the research programme day-to-day under the direction of Prof. Ramesh Babu.
The core tasks are as follows:
1. Use various MF/UF/NF/RO /PV membrane processes at the lab and pilot scale.
2. Evaluation of various ion-exchange resins and adsorbents for the removal of phosphates and nitrates.
3. Characterisation of wastewater using ICP-MS, Hach testing, COD, BOD, elemental analysis and enzyme assay kits
4. Scaling up lab-scale procedure for pilot scale/demo scale
5. Life cycle analysis (LCA) of process developed
6. Writing papers and giving presentations on the research conducted.
7. Willing to travel to partner’s sites for scaling and demonstration of technologies
8. Helping with the day-to-day running of the research group, training and supervising the students, procuring orders, and managing the laboratories.
Person Specification
The experienced candidate must have a PhD in relevant fields such as Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biotechnology, materials science, or physics and/or equivalent industrial experience.
Desirable
1. Knowledge in Anaerobic digestion/Fermentation technologies will be added advantage.
2. Experience of working with industrial collaborators.
3. Use of LCA analysis software
4. Experience in the training and supervision of junior researchers is desirable.
Applicants should submit a full Curriculum Vitae including the names and contact details of 3 referees (including email addresses) to babup@tcd.ie