Postdoc in GHG emission and mitigation of the environmental and climate imp

at  Aarhus Universitet

Are you motivated by minimizing emissions of greenhouse gases, ammonia, VOCs, and other air pollutants? Are you encouraged by creating knowledge, new technologies and methods and finding solutions that promote the green transition towards a more sustainable agricultural production with less impact on climate and the environment?
If your focus is on environmental engineering or biochemical processes by developing and testing mitigation strategies or emission models centred around emissions from the agricultural waste management chain.
Then the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering at Aarhus University invites you to apply for a Post Doc position.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Agricultural waste such as liquid animal manure (slurry) is a major atmospheric source of greenhouse gases, ammonia, VOCs, odorants, and other air pollutants that contribute significantly to the environmental and climate impact of agriculture. At the same time, it is a valuable fertilizer source that may require long-term storage before field application with possible pre-storage treatment by anaerobic digestion to substitute fossil energy.
The postdoc candidate will be part of a research team where focus is on measuring and validating technologies that mitigate emissions and develop new methods to quantify emission from slurry stored in livestock buildings or outdoor storages. The project is closely related to the development of process models that can be used to estimate farm-scale greenhouse gas emission and so modelling may be part of the work.

The tasks in the project to be covered by the postdoc positions include:

• Developing experimental facilities and validate slurry treatments technologies such as acidification, use of additives, and controlled oxidation in pilot-scale.
• Developing new methods and carry out laboratory experiments for understanding and quantifying biochemical processes in stored slurry that lead to GHG and ammonia emission.
• Apply advanced online gas measuring instruments and begin able to process and handle large datasets from these instruments.
• Exploring the temporal and spatial distribution of microorganisms using the 16s rRNA gene for sequencing.
• Coordinate and delegate task related to storage and analysis of large amounts of slurry samples for both chemical and microbiological composition.
• Developing agro-emission models to understand, estimate and manage agricultural processes, process kinetics and emissions.

State-of-the-art analytical methods will be applied as key measurements in the research e.g. cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) and possibly proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). These instruments are applied in our pilot-scale slurry storage facilities and in our laboratory, typically in static or dynamic chambers. The tasks range from in-vitro laboratory experiments, where the candidate will be in charge of running experiments and developing novel methods for quantifying gas emission, to the development and management of pilot-scale slurry storage studies. The candidate will also coordinate with project partners that conduct full scale storage experiments.
The project involves collaboration with external partners from other universities and private organizations. You will be part of a world leading and dedicated research group within agricultural emission. The group consists of multiple post docs, PhD students and permanent scientific staff that all work with agricultural emission quantification, technology validation or method development or modelling. The candidate will have two supervisors that offer supervision both related to the specific project tasks and to the candidate’s career development. This offers a unique possibility to set and develop your own research profile within agricultural emissions at Aarhus University.

YOUR PROFILE

We are looking for a candidate with a PhD in Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Environmental Engineering or other relevant scientific background.

The successful candidates should have experience and expertise in at least four of the following areas:

• Experimental emission research and quantification of emission mitigation.
• Method development and validation.
• Experienced with anaerobic microbial processes.
• Experience with physical and chemical liquid waste/slurry characterization.
• Experience with online measurement systems such as cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) and proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) is preferred.
• Handling of large datasets including statistical data treatment.
• Knowledge of the agricultural production system.
• Developing and understanding process-based modelling.
• Conducting and designing laboratory experiments for quantifying anaerobic processes in waste materials.

Furthermore, applicants are expected to:

• have strong cooperation and communication skills.
• be independent in their research.
• have strong skills in scientific writing and written English as documented by publication of peer-reviewed research articles.
• be a team player and contribute to a working environment with a positive atmosphere.
• have a driving license.

WHO WE ARE

The successful candidate is employed in the Section of Environmental Engineering, which is a part of Department of Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering. Researchers in the section develop environmental technologies as well as models of physical, chemical, and biological processes that are important for environmental quality. The research activities contribute to better management of animal manure and bio-waste through generation of new knowledge and quantification of mitigation effects. Emission of ammonia, greenhouse gases, VOCs, and sulfur compounds from manure management and biogas production for energy recovery from organic wastes have been the main applications to date. The work in this group is centered around basic chemistry, microbial transformations in natural and engineered ecosystems, mass transfer, data analysis, modelling and computer programming.

• Developing experimental facilities and validate slurry treatments technologies such as acidification, use of additives, and controlled oxidation in pilot-scale.
• Developing new methods and carry out laboratory experiments for understanding and quantifying biochemical processes in stored slurry that lead to GHG and ammonia emission.
• Apply advanced online gas measuring instruments and begin able to process and handle large datasets from these instruments.
• Exploring the temporal and spatial distribution of microorganisms using the 16s rRNA gene for sequencing.
• Coordinate and delegate task related to storage and analysis of large amounts of slurry samples for both chemical and microbiological composition.
• Developing agro-emission models to understand, estimate and manage agricultural processes, process kinetics and emissions