1 PhD student position in Extraction of wood biopolymers in Sweden | Chalmers University of Technology

The project will be part of the activities in Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC). In WWSC the next generation of novel wood-based materials and associated processes are developed. The main focus is on understanding of mechanisms and principles that can facilitate the development of novel wood-based materials. The center is multidisciplinary and located both at Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. About 60 persons (of which about 20 are professors) are working in the center.

Information about the research group

The division of Forest Products and Chemical Engineering are doing research work within conventional pulping technology as well as future wood based biorefineries. Our scientific fields is related to heterogenious reaction with mass and heat transfer, and flow through porous beds. Many of our works are made in the "crossroad" between Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. Most of our projects are carried out in close contact with other universities (national and international) and with industrial companies. Today, we are about 20 persons and we are planning to expand the coming years.

Major responsibilities

The PhD-student will work in a sub-research group with the overarching goal to extract well-defined bio-polymers from wood. The specific task for this PhD-student is to investigate how wood (chemical composition as well as physical structure) and the properties of the dissolved bio-polymers are influenced by different pretreatment methods (e.g. mild steam explosion, enzymatic treatment and alkali treatment). The PhD student will work in the Forest Products and Chemical Engineering group in close collaboration with other researchers in WWSC.

Your major responsibility as PhD student is to perform your own research in our research group. The position may also include supervision of master's and teaching obligations. You will be enrolled in the graduate school BioScience and will follow the curriculim given there.

Position summary

Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

Qualifications:

To qualify as a PhD student, you must have a master's level degree corresponding to at least 240 higher education credits in Chemical Engineering or Biochemical Engineering. University courses or equivalent in wood chemistry and plant cell wall biotechnologys are qualifying merits.

You are expected to demonstrate good potential within research and education. Important qualities are enthusiasm, to be able to drive and conclude projects independently, take own initiative and discuss/develop own ideas, write well-formulated reports, be creative and have a problem-solving ability, and to be a mature person also realising your own limitations. The project is part of a interdiscioplinary collaboration with several other research groups and thus good cooperation and social abilities are highly important.