PhD on On-farm biogas production from animal manure with decentralized BioLNG production and liquid CO2

 A fully funded PhD scholarship titled “On-farm biogas production from animal manure with decentralized BioLNG production and liquid CO2” is available at RE-SOURCE Lab, within the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering at Ghent University in Belgium. We are looking for a top student, to work as a PhD candidate under the following recently funded project:

Sponsor: The European Commission under Horizon Europe program,
Call ID: HORIZON-CL5-2021-D3-03 Sustainable, secure and competitive energy supply
Project title: SEMPRE-BIO - Securing Domestic Production of Cost-Effective Biomethane

SEMPRE-BIO aims to demonstrate novel and cost-effective biomethane production solutions and pathways, deemed essential to achieve the European Green Deal and climate and energy targets for 2030 and the net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and to increase the market up-take of biomethane related technologies. To that extent, the specific aim of the PhD is to work on the Belgian pilot case study which will investigate the potential downscaling of a solution able to produce BioLNG and liquid CO2 from the raw biogas with the cleaning process integrated for applications at the level of farm-scale digestion, together with advanced technologies for efficient valorisation of CO2 and digestate. The PhD is also expected to support the follow-up of the daily management of the project and to work in strong collaboration with other project partners.

We are looking for successful candidates with a MSc degree obtained between September 2022 and September 2020 who will undertake the following responsibilities:

• Run your PhD project and deliver the project results in a timely manner.
• Submission of high quality publications in international journals.
• Link and integrate with research project of the other PhD students in the two groups as deemed appropriate.
• Contribute to group activities as requested by your promoters that are within the remit of the role and the grant, and the associated grade. This may include:

1. Supporting and collaborating with MSc and other PhD students.
2. Contribution to teaching programmes if requested to do so.
3. Assist in other activates in the group as deemed necessary.

Job profile

The candidate should fulfil the following requirements:

• Have a MSc degree in environmental engineering, agriculture engineering or biosystems engineering.
• Good contextual understanding of biogas reactors and agricultural-environmental interface.
• Preferentially have knowledge in the use of basic software and modelling languages, such as, MATLAB Toolbox, LabVIEW, R, ArcGIS, C++…
• Should have a high level of proficiency in English sufficient to communicate effectively with colleagues and write papers and reports.
• Good practical problem solver / Ability to find appropriate solutions to academic and technical problems.
• Ability to work as a member of a team within a dynamic research group.

Offer

• We offer a fully funded PhD scholarship starting anytime between 1st November 2022 and 1st December 2022. We offer approx. €2150 per month net based on a full working week (38 hours).
• Candidates will have the opportunity to work within a stimulating research environment within the RE-SOURCE Lab with interdisciplinary team comprised of agricultural engineers, environmental engineers, soil scientists, agronomists and data mining experts, where many international collaborations are foreseen.

Prof. Meers : https://www.ugent.be/bw/gct/en/research/ecochem/overviewresearch/researchmeers
Prof Meers is also involved in management of the following platforms : www.biorefine.eu ; www.nutricycle.vlaanderen ; www.biogas-e.be ; www.europeanbiogas.eu

How to apply

Applications should be submitted by not later than 30th August, 2022, enclosing the following documents:

• A cover letter outlining your motivation, research and teaching experience.
• A detailed CV and publication record.
• Your MSc degree or an interim document if you are still finishing your MSc.
• A verified transcript of your MSc and BSc degrees.
• Two reference letters from academic members.

Applications need to be submitted via email with subject ‘PhD SEMPRE-BIO’ to Sylvie Dewerte (E-mail: Sylvie.Dewerte@ugent.be) and Prof. Erik Meers (Erik.Meers@UGent.be).