PhD project available in critical materials recovery

28 May 2023
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Università degli Studi di Udine - DPIA

Department

Dipartimento Politecnico di Ingegneria e Architettura

Research Field

Chemistry » Applied chemistry
Chemistry » Physical chemistry

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Italy

Application Deadline

22 Jun 2023 - 12:00 (Europe/Rome)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Critical raw materials (CRMs) are crucial for numerous strategic sectors, but they have a high risk of availability disruption due to  the dependency on a few suppliers. A strategy to mitigate this risk is based from the recycling from end-of-life products. For example, rare earths elements (REEs) are classified at the first place of the CRMs list issued by the EU and their recycling is becoming interesting from an economic and strategic point of view.

The PhD project "Critical materials recycling from end-of-life products using green solvents" aims to exploit ionic liquids (IL) and deep eutectics solvents (DES) (“green solvents”) for the recovery of several CRM by liquid-liquid partition from complex aqueous solutions deriving from the dissolution of several types of materials (magnets batteries…) to develop a sustainable recycling process for recycling CRMs  from end-of-life products.
The PhD student will perform solution studies on metal complex formation in ILs (e.g. with extracting ligands) , separations in bi-phasic liquid-liquid (LL) systems and then focus on in supported liquid membrane (SLM) separations. Starting from acquiring fundamental properties, the student will investigate the speciation of the metal in ILs and DES to collect fundamental data on the nature of the dissolved metal to move then towards application. The research group has also a consolidated computational expertise which is often combined experimental studies, thus some involvement can be discussed depending on candidate experience and interests. Besides this project the PhD student will be required to support other research line of the group in the field of solution chemistry.  

Applications must be submitted online (deadline June 22). Selection is subject to comparative evaluation by the examination committee. Candidates must hold a degree in Chemistry, Chemical engineering or equivalent which will be evaluated by the examination committee. Applications are accepted also from students who will earn the degree before the start of the doctoral course (October 2023). For non-Italian applicants the interview (in english) will also be done online in July 2022.

For further details on the specific project, PhD conditions and application process, please contact directly Prof Andrea Melchior ([email protected] ). Research group website: thermodynamics.uniud.it

 

 

Requirements

Research Field

Chemistry

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Research Field

Engineering » Chemical engineering

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Languages

ENGLISH

Level

Excellent

Additional Information
Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Università degli Studi di Udine

Country

Italy

City

Udine

Postal Code

33100

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.uniud.it/en/research/do-research/doctorate-res/ammissione/active-no…

Contact

City

Udine

Website

https://www.uniud.it/en/uniud-international?set_language=en
https://thermodynamics.uniud.it

Street

Via delle Scienze, 206

Postal Code

33100

E-Mail

[email protected]

STATUS: EXPIRED