PhD Student in Energy Engineering: Extraction of High-quality Silicon Components from Ash-rich Biomas

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Written by LTU staff, editing by A.S.

The Division of Energy Science at Luleå University of Technology has an open PhD position in the subject of Energy Engineering. In your research, you will develop combustion and gasification processes for the effective extraction of high-quality silicon components from ash-rich biomass suitable for upgrading to advanced material applications, e.g. in batteries and as raw material for solar cells. You will work both with researchers from different fields (energy, chemical and material engineering), universities/institutes (national and international) and with equipment manufacturers. The deadline for applications is 9 August 2020.

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Your PhD project is a part of an ongoing project funded by the Swedish Energy Agency and industrial stakeholders, i.e. suppliers of combustion or gasification technologies, as well as heat and power producers.

The world market for special silica (SiO₂) products and related derivatives is growing rapidly, especially considering their use in devices for energy conversion and storage. SiO₂ synthesis is expensive, energy demanding and hazardous to the environment. It can thus be motivated to pursue and develop more sustainable production routes based on biogenic Si. The purpose of your research is to investigate the opportunities to develop the thermochemical (combustion/gasification) process, in order to (i) extract Si components from the hot gases, which can be used efficiently in advanced material applications, e.g. in batteries and as raw material for solar cells and; (ii) avoid severe ash-related problems in the combustion or gasification process.

You will do laboratory, pilot and industrial-scale combustion or gasification experiments, as well as thermochemical modelling calculations to develop knowledge regarding a proposed Si production concept. The extracted Si components will be extensively characterised, both physically (pore size, surface morphology) and chemically (elemental and phase composition) using e.g., BET, SEM/EDS, XRD, TEM, ICP-OES/MS; as well as evaluated regarding the technical possibility to be used as advanced materials. In your research, you will collaborate with researchers from, e.g. Bio4Energy, Luleå University of Technology, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and from Nanjing Tech University in China.

For further information, visit https://www.ltu.se/ltu/Lediga-jobb?l=en&rmpage=job&rmjob=3904&rmlang=UK or contact Chaired Professor This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Head of Division, + 46 92 049 1977.  

The deadline for applications is 9 August 2020.