Research Topic
The research objective of the traineeship is to develop new membrane manufacturing methods based on green chemistry principles, to guide the replacement of traditional organic solvents by green solvents, in all stages of membrane fabrication. Green solvents, and particularly bio-derived solvents, will be selected based on safety, health and environmental criteria, following CHEM21 guide, and their thermodynamic compatibility with the advanced polymers used to create the super-selective gas separation membranes. Two types of green solvent/polymer pairs will be sought, to create both new finely porous supports and dense gas separation layers. The use of waste plastics as source of raw material for creating the porous support is one of the major innovations of this project, introducing circular economy practices in membranes fabrication. The new membranes will be aimed at solving environmental and biomedical challenges, such as CO2 capture, reuse of refrigerants, and biocompatible materials for perfusion bioreactors.
The start date is flexible.
In adittion to this traineeship period that is offered for master and PhD students, a new PhD position will be opened soon in the topic of green membrane synthesis. The PhD position will include a 4-years research contract, the registration fees in the doctoral programm and funding for short stays mobility during the PhD. Those interested in applying to the PhD position, please contact Professor Ane Urtiaga, urtiaga@unican.es