Post doctor in Bioplastics production from waste streams - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

About the project

This postdoctoral position is announced as a part of CarbonNextGen Project financed by Swedish Energy Agency. KTH is the coordinator of the project and IVL, Xylem and Syvab are the partners of the project. In this project, we are evaluating the potentials of two important municipal organic wastes; sewage sludge and household waste, to develop carbon neutral wastewater treatment plants with a particular emphasis on different opportunities instead of methane. The overall aim of this project is to demonstrate a zero-waste strategy that turns municipal waste sludge into functional carbon sources, but also to develop new high-value products besides biofuel securing the optimal resource recovery of these organic wastes.

The specific purpose of the project is to:

• Develop a sustainable process for production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from these two municipal organic wastes
• Test the produced SCFAs in downstream processes. By this way, this project will achieve a carbon neutral wastewater plants by closing loop
• Reveal environmental sustainability of these two approaches and compare with methane production from same waste stream.

Job description

• Develop semi-synthetic microbial community, which is responsible polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production
• PHA production, from SCFA-rich effluent stream by using new microbial community in lab to pilot-scale bioreactors
• Characterize PHA and discover effect of SCFA type on PHA production.

The results from this part of the project will be presented in scientific paper(s) and international meetings.

Additionally, teaching activity on the project subject might be necessary.

Qualifications

The potential candidate should have a PhD degree (completed in last 3 years or will be completed in early 2019) in environmental biotechnology, biotechnology, environmental engineering or chemical engineering.

The applicant should have experience on bioplastic/PHA production and characterization.

Good skills in English, both oral and written is required to publish and present project results.

The candidate should be

• strongly motivated for academic work
• able to lead his/her project
• able to cooperate with the other groups.

Application documents

• CV including education and relevant academic/work experience
• Publication list
• Cover letter
• 2 Reference letters (One of them should be from PhD supervisor)

Log into KTH's recruitment system in order to apply to this position. You are the main responsible to ensure that your application is complete according to the ad. Your complete application must be received at KTH no later than the last day of application.

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