Job description:
The LSRE – Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering – in partnership with the LCM – Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials – holds the statute of “Laboratório Associado” since December 2004. Both the LSRE and the LCM are located in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto.
The attribution of the statute of “Laboratório Associado” was based on the verification of the needs for developing certain areas of the national industrial tissue and the will of enlarging its influence area to the society in general, realizing missions of public interest which, beyond the R&D activities, can be classified as rendering services to the chemical and similar industries, with the objective of a sustained technological and industrial development.
Information about the past, recent and current research projects in which the LSRE and the LCM were involved, together with a short description of the achieved results, can be found in the Website of the Laboratório Associado (http://lsre.fe.up.pt/).
The R&D activities of LSRE comprise the execution of national and international projects, financed by FCT and other national institutions, by The European Union (JOULE, BRITE, ALFA programmes) and by other international agreements and programmes (CYTED, ERASMUS). The LSRE counts also projects in collaboration and financed by national end european companies and industries. The outcome of the work done in the LSRE is well expressed in terms of its scientific production, with more than 50 PhD theses and more than 250 scientific publications in international journals since 1996.
Innovation and technology transfer are key objectives of the LSRE, which counts currently with four pending international Patent requests. Several works developed in the LSRE were recently awarded, including a first prize and a honor mention in the CUF Prize for the best PhD thesis and the first prize in the Solvay Ideas Challenge. Two spin-off companies originated in the LSRE were recently launched, one in the Perfumes Engineering area – the I-Sensis – and another in the Fluid Engineering area – Fluidinova.
By this announcement, the LSRE intends to hire one post-Doc Researcher for a five years period. The selected candidate(s) will work on the development of cyclic separation and reaction processes and their applications.
The large experience of the LSRE in the separation and reaction processes is the basis for several projects in this area, for which the LSRE is uniquely equipped in Portugal. Specifically in this area, the LSRE will continue to concentrate its efforts in the (i) Development of technologies (PSA and SMB) for the propane-propylene separation, with industrial application; (ii) Optimization of a PSA/membrane hybrid system for the production of hydrogen by methane steam reforming, incorporating the capture of CO2; (iii) Optimization of layered PSA for the production of methane from biogas (patent application is under way); (iv) Development of SMBR technology for isomerization of paraffins and separation of linear/branched paraffins for improvement of octane number of gasoline; (v) Development of new SMB technologies for chiral separations and novel SMB multicomponent separations for biotechnology applications; (vi) Development of SMBR and Pervaporation membrane reactor technologies for green solvents (following our patent WO/2005/113476).
The leading position of the LSRE, at world level, in the new SMB and PSA technologies, with and without reaction, can only be maintained with a continuous investment in new applications and with the development, modeling, simulation and experimenting of those new applications. The LSRE is involved in an European research project concerning the production of hydrogen and the sequestering and storage of CO2; the laboratory has been studying the development of propane-propylene separation technologies (currently recognized as the more energy consuming separation of the petrochemical industry) for which it has the international collaboration of final users (IFP, France and BASF, Germany): a patent application for propane/proplylene separation by SMB was already filled by IFP and LSRE team. The laboratory cooperates also with CECA (French company producing adsorbents for p-xylene), being in this case considered as a reference laboratory at the international level for the evaluation of materials; the laboratory patented SMBR technology for production of acetals (PT 103123 in 2004 and WO 113476 in 2005); in this area, it is intended to hire one researcher.
Besides the participation in ongoing projects, the activity of the successful candidate(s) will include the supervising of PhD students and other young researchers, the preparation of proposals to R&D projects both at national and international levels, the accompanying of master projects and the participation in the management of the LSRE - Laboratório Associado.
The selection will be based on the appreciation of the curriculum vitae of the candidates and of one three-year R&D research program (maximum of two A4 pages) written by the candidates. If necessary, the evaluation may be done in two phases, the second one reserved to candidates selected in the first phase; in the second phase one personal interview, the presentation of a seminar or the elaboration of a project can be required.
The applications, including a detailed curriculum vitae, graduation certificate, reference letters, one three-year R&D research program (maximum of two A4 pages), as well as an application letter directed to the Director of the LSRE - Laboratório Associado, should be personally delivered or sent by registered surface mail to the LSRE until August 30, 2007.
Application deadline: 30-08-2007
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