Phd Position in Modeling Chemical Absorption at The Gas-liquid Interface

**JOB ENVIRONMENT**: Institut Mines-Télécom is the leading public group of engineering and management Grandes Écoles in France. Consisting of eight public graduate Grandes Écoles and two subsidiary graduate schools, Institut Mines-Télécom leads and develops a rich ecosystem of partner schools, economic, academic and institutional partners, key players in education, research and economic development. Mines Saint-Étienne, a graduate school of the Institut Mines-Télécom, is responsible for education, research, innovation, industrial transfer and scientific culture dissemination. With 2,500 students, 500 staff and a budget of €50m, it has 3 campuses dedicated to the industry of the future, health and well-being, and digital sovereignty and microelectronics. It is ranked in the top 15 graduate engineering schools in France and the top 500 universities worldwide. The 2023-2027 strategy of Mines Saint-Etienne is in line with that of Institut Mines Telecom. It aims to: - Support the ecological, digital and generational transitions and educate the people involved - Support national and European sovereignty in microelectronics and digital technology **To support this strategy, it is recruiting a doctoral student in** **Modeling chemical absorption at the gas-liquid interface.** **JOB DESCRIPTION**: One way to capture CO2 consists in using absorption columns filled with textured sheets, upon which a liquid film flows in interaction with a confined counter-current turbulent gas flow. This allows CO2 absorption via inter-phase reactive mass transfer from the gas to the liquid. The imposed goals in CO2 reduction require improvements of the carbon capture process efficiency. Very ambitious optimization strategies based on a detailed knowledge of the hydrodynamics are essential. Indeed, controlling the waves at the gas-liquid interface can have a substantial impact on process efficiency: interfacial waves are beneficial to transfers, and surface textures enhance waves. Meanwhile, more waves (i.e. more interfacial transfer) means more risk of critical events, such as flooding, leading to a significant drop in the process efficiency. Thus, the current project aims at modeling the interplay between hydrodynamics, reactive inter-phase mass transfer and wall structures to uncover optimal configurations for maximizing CO2 capture while reducing the risk of critical events such as flooding. The outcome of the project will be an efficient hybrid numerical tool, in which the liquid phase is represented via a low-dimensional integral model while the gas phase described with the unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. The small computational cost required by the low-dimensional formulation will allow to investigate several flow conditions over long times, where direct numerical simulations (DNS) based on two-phase Navier-Stokes equations, although complemented with appropriate turbulence models, cannot be employed even with parallelization. Your main tasks will be: - Attend at group research meetings - Attend at national and international conferences - Write journal publications - Research stay at a partner University for a short time **Tasks may change depending on the needs of the department and Mines Saint-Etienne.** **The position is based on the Saint-Étienne campus.** **PROFIL SOUGHT**: **You are in one of the following situations**: - A PhD student - 5 years' higher education or equivalent **And ideally**: - **Holder of a M.Sc. in Chemical/Mechanical Engineering (or equivalent) **You have the following skills, knowledge and experience**: - Fundamentals of fluid mechanics - Fundamentals of transport phenomena - Fundamentals of numerical modeling - Performed internship on a fluid dynamics topic is a plus **You recognise yourself in the following abilities and skills**: - Motivated, eager to learn - Motivated to face challenges - Good spoken and written English - Communication skills **WHY JOIN US**: - Institut Mines-Telecom_ is characterised by: _ - A scientific environment of excellence - A group with entities throughout France Mines Saint-Etienne is distinguished by: - A privileged working environment with a high student supervision rate and a high environment rate (support and back-up functions) - First-rate experimental and digital resources - Significant contract research activity (€11m/year in Research and Innovation contracts), mainly with industrial partners - 25% international students, Member of the T.I.M.E. network and the EULIST European University - A centre for scientific, technical and industrial culture - _La Rotonde_ - which is unique in France, and which has a major impact on society (> 50,000 visitors per year) - Pleasant workplace, easily accessible by public transport and close to motorways - Sustainable mobility package - Staff committee that subsidises sports, leisure, cultural and social events and activities - The possibility of partial remote working - 49 days annua