Thermo-chemical CO2 Conversion

The National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL's) record of success has been built on understanding the future of energy and the technologies required to make that future possible. We’ve long touted our success in developing the technologies that took on acid rain in the 1970s and mercury in the early 2000s. More recently, NETL has a leading role in President Biden’s ambitious climate goals, including a carbon emission-free power sector by 2035 and a net-zero economy by 2050.

Program Goals

The NETL Postgraduate Research Program (PGRP) is a high-intensity program designed to identify recent Master’s and Doctoral graduates of high promise and to foster advanced skill development. It allows the postgraduate to systematically outline career goals and helps provide the means of achieving these goals. NETL principal investigators and leads serve as mentors to PGRP participants during the program. This interaction affords the postgraduate a unique opportunity to develop critical skills needed to become an independent professional.

The program goals include providing the opportunity to participants to:

• Develop skills and knowledge in their field of study
• Engage with new areas of basic and applied research
• Network with world-class scientists
• Exchange ideas and skills with the Laboratory community
• Use state-of-the-art equipment
• Contribute to answers for today's pressing scientific questions
• Collaborate with the broader scientific and technical communities

Project Details

Through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), this posting seeks a post-Doctoral or post-Master's researcher to engage in projects with the Research Innovation Center (RIC) at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in the area of CO2 Conversion under the mentorship of Jarrett Riley. This project will be hosted at the NETL Morgantown, WV campus.

The development and maturation of CO2 conversion technologies is a necessary component in the reduction of atmospheric CO2 levels. CO2 conversion technologies act as a platform to convert captured CO2 into value added products. This project will help to address NETL’s goals to evaluate and accelerate the maturation of emerging CO2 conversion catalytic pathways. The project will focus on low temperature thermal conversion pathways for value added products such as Methanol, Formic acid, Carboxylic Acids, Linear and Cyclic carbonates, etc. The project will aid in the selection of thermal technologies and the development/operation of reactor facilities to explore the down selected technologies.

The selected participant will:

• Collaborate on the planning and setup of a laboratory for CO2 conversion approaches.
• Setup and routinely use analytical instruments
• Conducting benchmarking experiments
• Collaborate on the development of standardized protocols for testing of various technology approaches
• Collaborate on the creation of a CO2 conversion technology data base and collecting background information to inform relevant technology
• Write review article(s) that can aid in the steering of technology downselection and capability buildout.
• Develop other research products (Journal Articles, Conference presentations, and IP) with down selected capabilities.

Stipend: The selected participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience.

• Post-Master's stipends start at $3,720 per month.
• Post-Doctoral stipends start at $5,518 per month.
  Actual stipend rate offered may be increased based on experience.

Deliverables: To document the effectiveness of the program, participants are required to submit a pre-appointment and post-appointment survey, as well as a reflection on their appointment experience when they renew or end their appointment. The reflection should summarize their project(s), additional activities, and overall experience. Details are provided as the appointment end date approaches.
Participants may also have the opportunity to contribute to manuscripts, journal articles, book chapters, conference presentations, posters, patents, and other publications as a part of their appointment. Such achievements should also be reported to ORISE; additional details are provided after an offer has been accepted.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory system, is owned and operated by the DOE. NETL supports the DOE mission to advance the energy security of the United States. This is an educational opportunity offered by NETL and administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. Participants in the program are not considered employees of NETL, DOE, the program administrator, or any other office or agency.

Qualifications

To be eligible, you must either:

• have received a Doctoral degree within the last five years or be currently enrolled in a Doctoral degree program and complete the degree prior to the appointment start date.
• have received a Master's degree within the last three years or are currently enrolled in a Master's degree program and complete the degree prior to the appointment start date.

The ideal candidate would have some, but not necessarily all, of the following:

• A Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering or equivalent (MS with 2 years course and experience) for thermal CO2 conversion approaches to value added products.
• Experience in gas-solid or gas-liquid-solid heterogenous catalytic systems and in building reactor devices with particle or structured solid reactants.
• Hands on experience with comfort in assembling various reactor configurations and testing them would be highly preferred.
• Relevant Experience in CO2 conversion strategies for the creation of value-added products or other catalytic conversion processes.
• Experience in thermal-chemical approaches to CO2 conversion for value added products such as liquid fuels and chemical precursors (Methanol, Formic acid, Carboxylic Acids Linear and Cyclic carbonates etc.). A plus would be experience with plasma approaches to CO2 conversion as well.
• Relevant experience in the setup and benchmarking of laboratory reactors and analytics.
• Good working knowledge of reaction engineering principles to characterize reactor/technology performance.