PhD position (f/m/x) on the Process Engineering and Modelling of Biophotovoltaics

PhD position (f/m/x) on the Process Engineering and Modelling of Biophotovoltaics

The job Hydrogen will play a key role in decarbonizing our society and sustain our future. Biophotovoltaics (BPV), which exploits the natural oxygen photosystem in a bioelectrochemcial system, aims to deliver a sustainable solution for hydrogen production in the future. It provides unique benefits in terms of the energy and resource demands and also it can potentially make H2 production as a carbon-sink process as the oxygenic photomicroorganism (e.g. cyanobacteria) use CO2 as the carbon source for growth and maintenance. Within the newly BMBF funded Nachwuchsgruppenprojekt BioPV4H2, we aim to gain a holistic understanding of the BPV process from both biological and technological aspects, and thus to promote rational design and development of this technique for future application. To realize the proposed ambitious goals, I am seeking an enthusiastic student to fill a PhD position funded by this project. The main task of this position is to measure and model the process kinetics on the process interfaces (mainly light-microbe, and mediator-electrode), and rationally engineer and optimize the process configuration and parameters. The successful candidate will be supervised by a team with leading expertise in multiple disciplines, and have the support for skill trainings externally and networking in national and international conferences. Your tasks The successful candidate is expected to have a good sense of numeric data, and will be supervised and supported by an interdisciplinary team at UFZ Leipzig and MPI-Magdeburg. With all this support, you are expected to complete the following tasks:

• Measure and model the process kinetics on the different process interfaces, using the approaches from biochemical engineering and electrochemical-process engineering;
• Develop novel process concepts and optimize the process parameters to improve the system light-to-energy efficiency;
• Communicating with our project partners to refine the research strategy to achieve the project milestones;
• Presenting project progress at national and international scientific conferences;
• Writing progress report, and publishing project results in high-ranked scientific journals.

We offer

• Excellent technical facilities which are without parallel;
• The freedom you need to bridge the difficult gap between basic research and close to being ready for application;
• Work in inter-disciplinary, multinational teams;
• Excellent links with national and international research networks;
• Excellent support and optimal subject-specific and general training with our HIGRADE graduate school;
• Remuneration in accordance with the TVöD public-sector pay grade 13 (65%).

Your profile

• M.S. in electrochemistry, biotechnology, biochemical engineering, or related area;
• Experience in electrochemical- and/or bio-process development, etc.;
• Experience with mathematical equations and/or process kinetics;
• Computing skills for data process and modelling will be a bonus;
• Knowledge in photoautotroph cultivation and photo-bioreactor will be a bonus;
• Excellent communication and team-working skills;
• High self-motivation, initiative and the willingness for scientific work in an interdisciplinary project;
• Proficient in English speaking and writing.