Postdoctoral Position in Environmental Chemistry
- Details
- Written by UmU staff, editing by A.S.
Bio4Energy and the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University is looking for a postdoctor that will be part of a research project aimed at addressing water treatment implementation challenges. The main task will be to develop biochar adsorbents suitable for wastewater with highly complex contamination profiles. The position is a full-time employment for two years with entry 1 October 2019 or by agreement.
Project description & tasks
Water scarcity is a serious global problem that affects the world’s poorest the most. This postdoctoral position is part of a research project that addresses major challenges relating water scarcity and in particular to wastewater reuse from a multidisciplinary perspective. The overall goal of the research project is to provide knowledge that contributes to the development of an efficient wastewater treatment methodology with low environmental impact and sustainable use of local resources.
The main tasks for this postdoctoral position will be to develop biochar adsorbents for treatment of wastewater with highly complex contamination profiles e.g. by activation and functionalisation. You mainly will work to enhance the removal of micropollutants from complex wastewater by increasing the sorption capacity of biochars previously identified as promising materials in further work. Moreover, you will explore the impact of combining biochars with different properties and functionalities to obtain an efficient multi-target adsorbent. Some of the tests of adsorbents will be performed in a DEWATS (decentralised wastewater treatment system) plant in Durban, South Africa. The postdoc project may also include studies on thermal destruction of used biochar adsorbents, by a comparative study of thermal degradation behaviour and the fate of sorbed organic and inorganic micropollutants during thermal processing, as well as an assessment of emissions generated in a realistic combustion scenario.
This project will be carried out within the environmental platform of the research programme Bio4Energy and within a research group focusing on thermal processes that draw on biomass and other bio-based materials. The role is mainly based at Umeå University, but some tasks will performed at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa or at Institut Agronomique et Véterinaire Hassan II (IAV) and Mohammed V University (MVU), in Rabat, Morocco, which are our collaboration partners in this project.