Postdoc position in towards a circular plastics economy within the planetary boundaries

The project adopts a comprehensive systems perspective on the early-stage development of future technologies in the chemical and plastic industry. Your work will range from modeling individual technologies for alternative carbon sources to conducting techno-economic and life cycle assessment of integrated chemical and plastic production systems using mathematical optimization. Specifically, you will participate in advancing in-house models covering the global production pathways of large-volume chemicals and plastics, integrating novel technologies for alternative carbon flows, focusing in particular on chemical recycling, but considering carbon capture and utilization, and biomass utilization, identifying sustainable supply chains of the chemical and plastic industry using mathematical optimization and assessing trade-offs between environmental targets. The work will deepen your understanding of the chemical and plastics industry and its techno-economic and environmental assessment. You will learn to identify optimal technologies that meet environmental constraints, enhancing your knowledge of the environmental benefits of recycling, carbon capture and utilization, and bio-based technologies. Collaboration with partners from industry and academia will be crucial for success. Notably, you will have the opportunity to collaborate with and ultimately co-supervise a group of PhD students working on the same project. These students will advance predictive and experimental methods targeting separations and the thermophysical properties of complex fluids involved in solvent-based plastic recycling.

The EPSE group, led by Prof. Dr. André Bardow, is dedicated to advancing sustainable energy and chemical process systems. Our research spans from the molecular level to the scale of systems. We develop simulation and experimental methods to advance sustainable energy and chemical processes from the molecular to the system scale.

• A doctoral degree in chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, process engineering, or energy science & technology from a recognized university

• Strong experience in conceptual process design and simulations, life cycle assessment, alternative carbon source technologies, and programming

• Highly motivated to learn and apply modern simulation and optimization techniques and work in a dynamic environment with other doctoral students and postdocs

• Ability to work independently and excellent communication skills in English (both written and spoken)