postdoctoral position in process engineering

IMT Atlantique, internationally recognised for the quality of its research, is a leading general engineering school under the aegis of the Ministry of Industry and Digital Technology, ranked in the three main international rankings (THE, SHANGHAI, QS).

Located on three campuses, Brest, Nantes and Rennes, IMT Atlantique aims to combine digital technology and energy to transform society and industry through training, research and innovation. It aims to be the leading French higher education and research institution in this field on an international scale. With 290 researchers and permanent lecturers, 1000 publications and 18 M€ of contracts, it supervises 2300 students each year and its training courses are based on cutting-edge research carried out within 6 joint research units: GEPEA, IRISA, LATIM, LABSTICC, LS2N and SUBATECH.

The Environment and Energy Systems department has 67 people (21 research professors, a technical team of 6 people, 3 administrative staff and 37 PhD students). The DSEE is part of UMR CNRS 6144 GEPEA (Process Engineering for Environment and Food laboratory).

The DSEE hires a post-researcher position in order to integrate the TEAM VERTE in the context of the VERDIR (Energy recovery from island waste) project funded par the Region Pays de la Loire. The aim of this project is to develop a gasification process allowing to recovery in energy the island waste. Part of the heat produced would make it possible to dry the other part of the waste in order to reduce its volume. This would simultaneously allow the production of local energy and the reduction of the volume of waste to be transported on the continent. In order to implemente this solution, it is necessary to optimize the syngas purification process (in particular the tar cracking part), but also to ensure that the gases re-emitted into the atmosphere are in accordance with environmental regulations. The consortium for this project is constituted of the companies NAODEN and KEMPRO and, IMT-Atlantique.

The applicant will be in charge of carrying out part of the syngas characterization study and its purification. The syngas purification will focus on the study of the tar cracking implemented through a char bed, as well as the "possible" adsorption of sulfur products on this same char. The purification will be done in two stages: the first step will be conducted with hot gas and the second at room temperature. The objective is to develop and optimize the syngas purification in order to minimize the polluting emissions of the latter during its combustion. The tests will be carried out at a laboratory scale as well as on a full scale pilot (NAODEN/KERVAL pilot unit). Although the requested work is mainly experimental, it will be necessary to contribute to the bibliographic work.