2 PhD Student’s Plasma systems for CO2 capture and activation (# of pos: 2)

The department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) invites applications for

2 PhD Student's
Plasma systems for CO2 capture and activation
(Sustainable Process Engineering Group)

Project PLACHEM: Plasma assisted capture and conversion of CO2 to useful chemical products

Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry
The Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry is one of the nine departments of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) established in 1957. The department has approximately 500 employees, 16 full professors, 370 undergraduate students and about 170 graduate students (140 Ph.D. and 30 design engineers). The department aspires to be an academic institution for education and research in chemical science and engineering that meets the highest international standards. The aim is to generate and to develop technology and scientific knowledge relevant for the long-term needs of society. Scientific curiosity and the use of newly generated knowledge are the main driving forces for the continuing enhancements of the three chosen fields of expertise: molecular, materials, and sustainable process engineering.

Project background
Worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are continuing to grow, with an estimated increase of 60% as compared to 1990 and 1.3% per year on average since 2010. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels account for 38.8 Gt in 2019, 1.3 Gt more than 2018. A strong reduction of CO2 emissions has to be reached by 2030 in order to achieve the goal of a more limited rise in temperature of 2 °C. Energy supply, industry and transport are the key sectors to decarbonize, and solutions proposed to meet these targets must include carbon neutral fuels, power-to-fuels and carbon capture and utilization.

To reduce this vast carbon footprint, new sustainable and cost-competitive technologies for carbon capture and further utilization of these technologies must be developed to optimise the technology's performance with minimum socioeconomic and environmental impacts. So far, the proposed innovative technologies for direct air capture and CO2 conversion have not reached a readiness level that is high enough for their commercialisation; the proposed economic and financial business cases are not yet sustainable in the long term.

In this context, the PLACHEM project will develop and demonstrate a novel, direct, integrated CO2 capture (including air capture/flue gas capture) and conversion process for the conversion of CO2 into high value chemicals. Due to its flexibility in operation and potential impact in the European chemical industry, the PLACHEM technology can be exploited by a wide range of relevant applications within the transition towards an EU green economy..

Project description
In this project, the PhD student(s) will investigate and design a plasma reactor and the sorbents for the separation and the conversion of CO2 to industrially relevant target molecules. A multi-scale approach will be used to design an integrated 3D printed sorbent with multi-reactor system that is able to combine sequential/parallel CO2 separation steps coupled with intermediate conversion steps. This system will operate with optimal kinetic and transport properties to effectively drive the selectivity towards target products.

The project will cover the following aspects:
1) material synthesis, characterization and testing;
2) kinetic and mass transfer studies;
3) reactor design and development using modeling and experimental validation of integrated system.
4) techno-economic analysis