PhD Candidate in Hydrometallurgy and Recycling of Batteries

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At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

About the job

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree. 

This PhD is a part of the FME Battery - Centre for next generation and improved circular sustainable battery technology value chain. This is a large national centre gathering a wide range of research and industry partners in Norway who are focused on batteries. More information about FME battery can be found at the centre’s website. 

This position will be hosted by the Particle Engineering Centre at the Department of Chemical Engineering. The Department has strategic efforts within sustainable hydrometallurgy and application of chemical engineering to extract and recycle valuable elements from secondary sources including electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The department is a part of the Gemini Centre – HYPROS (Hydrochemical Processing Technology in the Circular Economy) which is a model for strategic interaction between parallel professions at NTNU, SINTEF and the University of Oslo. 

The focus of this PhD position will be on hydrometallurgical recovery of valuable materials including graphite from end-of-life Lithium-Ion Batteries (LIBs) and the “black mass” produced by battery disassembly and shredding at industrial recycling plants. The project aims to understand how pre-treatment of the black mass impacts the hydrometallurgical processing downstream. Processes will be primarily developed for black mass obtained from batteries with nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cathode chemistry including high Ni but may also address other battery chemistries (e.g. lithium iron phosphate, LFP) emerging in recycling feeds. With a major focus in optimizing a chosen hydrometallurgical route, efforts will be concerted on how differently pre-treated black masses will influence recoveries and quality of the final products obtained. An important aspect of the project will be detailed characterization of the black mass, both metals and organic contents, before and after treatment, as well as all resulting process streams and final products. The project will centre on one or more hydrometallurgical unit operations, in which the candidate will be able to specialize during the PhD Project. 

Your immediate leader is Particle Engineering Centre Manager.

Duties of the position

• The research work will involve:
  • Hydrometallurgical processes for recovery of valuable materials from EV batteries.
  • Characterization using state-of-the art infrastructure at Department of Chemical Engineering, Particle Engineering Core Facility and NTNU Nanolab.
  • Understanding fundamentals of leaching, solvent extraction, ion-exchange, flotation and/or precipitation with applications in recycling.
  • Scaling up of unit operations.
  • Process flow diagrams for recycling operations.
  • Statistical analysis of datasets.
• The PhD will be an integral part of the Particle Engineering Centre. The candidate is expected to participate actively in various centre-related activities, including mentoring and co-supervision of master/bachelor students. More information about the centre can be found here.
• As a PhD student in FME Battery, the candidate will be expected to participate in activities related to the centre’s interdisciplinary and nation-wide nature, e.g. attending regular meetings of the FME team all over Norway and presenting results to an audience with a wide range of backgrounds and specialties.
• The candidate is expected to be flexible regarding short-term or long-term international research stays.
• Travelling to conferences, meetings, workshops may be expected as part of the position.

Required selection criteria

• You must have a professionally relevant background in [subject area]
• Your education must correspond to a five-year Norwegian degree program, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program
• You must have strong experimental background within unit operations and/or hydrometallurgy.
• You must have experience in material characterization: chemical characterization such as elemental, metal speciation analysis using spectroscopy techniques (e.g. ICP, AAS, UV-Vis), phase composition (e.g. X-ray diffraction, X ray fluorescence) and physical characterization such as S(T)EM, FT-IR, particle analysis and/or other characterization techniques.
• You must be able to demonstrate a solid background in data and/or statistical analysis.
• You should have the willingness to design and build equipment and scientific instruments.
• You must possess good written and oral English language skills.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• Knowledge in thermodynamic software such as MINTEQ, HSC or other related programs and packages.
• Techno-economic assessment of chemical processes and/or knowledge of software such as UNISIM, ASPEN, HYSIS, etc.
• Experience and/or interest in circular chemical engineering, value chain evaluations (LCA, MFA etc.)

Personal characteristics

• Positive, creative, result oriented and enthusiastic.
• Seeks new challenges at work.
• Has keen interest working in interdisciplinary teams.
• Communicates information and results with clarity and ease, both orally and in writing.

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 3 years.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme  within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

The position is subject to external funding.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include:

• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees. If you have not completed the master's degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master's thesis has been submitted.
• A copy of the master's thesis. If you recently have submitted your master's thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master's degree must be presented before taking up the position.
• Project proposal
• Name and contact information of three referees
• If you have publications or other relevant research work

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality. 

The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Associate Professor Sulalit Bandyopadhyay, telephone +4745071041, email sulalit.bandyopadhyay@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Merete Thyholdt, email merete.thyholdt@ntnu.no

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.