Dunn-Sargent Jointly-advised Post-Doctoral Fellowships in CO2 capture and upgrade: Technoeconomic analysis (TEA), life-cycle assessment (LCA), and process design and optimization

Areas of Research: Prof. Jennifer Dunn and Prof. Edward H. Sargent seek jointly to attract post-doctoral fellows analyzing the path to a timely and just energy transition.

Elements will include the analysis of CO₂ capture, CO₂ upgrade to fuels and chemicals, and the defossiilization of electricity, industrial processes, and agriculture.

The incumbents will join an interdisciplinary team and will contribute expertise that includes:

• Life cycle assessment and technoeconomic analysis, informed by process optimization and uncertainty analysis;
• The computational and experimental investigation of CO₂ capture and release (including electrified), as well as CO₂ electrocatalytic upgrade.

Flows of interest/to be evaluated include electrocatalytic processes, biological processes and thermocatalytic processes, including their combined/cascade approaches.

            Specific topics and targets for analysis include:

1. Direct air capture (DAC) of CO₂, including capture, transport, and sequestration; as a function of the source of electricity, including analysis of its intermittency, its carbon intensity; and with analysis of the cost and overall carbon intensity of the related capital plant and its maintenance.
2. The production of food/food molecules from CO₂.

Description of Duties: Successful candidates will place their major focus on achieving original first-authored publications in interdisciplinary academic journals. They will work effectively in a team environment and will value the chance to reach across disciplines and to work with partners in industry and at our partner U.S. Department of Energy national labs. Post-doctoral fellows will take advantage of the opportunity to increase their mentoring skills, helping doctoral students to develop as scientist-engineers.

Essential Qualifications:

• Applicants must have received, or be close to receiving, their PhD degree in an area of chemical engineering, bioengineering, civil engineering, environmental sciences, chemistry, materials science, or a related field.

• Applicants must possess at least one of the following, or transferable skills:

• Expertise in topics related to the bioreactors, thermocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and/or carbon capture and separation processes.
• Expertise in topics related to net GHG emissions associated with the end-to-end process of crop production.
• Demonstrated ability to perform LCA and TEA and to write related scientific reports.
• Experience in process modeling, including in the use of tools such as Aspen Plus, CHEMCAD, SuperPro.
• Experience levering open-source software such as GREET, openLCA, SimaPro, or GaBi.

Salary: $58,000 USD/year and above based on experience.

Expected Start Date: Jan 1, 2024, or as soon as possible thereafter

Appointment: Term – (12 months) with the potential for renewal

How to apply:

Please include in your application package a cover letter; your full academic CV; information on 2 referees that are prepared to be consulted; your two most relevant publications. Please send as a single combined PDF whose file name includes your first and last names to Melissa Rosen (melissa.rosen@northwestern.edu) with the subject line “Dunn-Sargent TEA/LCA PDF Application” by Nov. 20, 2023. Evaluation of candidates will begin immediately and continue until filled.

Posting Date: Oct 28, 2023

Closing Date: Nov 20, 2023