Development of an innovative way of end-of-life plastics recycling by hydrothermal depolymerization
End of life plastics are scarcely recycled due to technical, health or structural constraints. To address this issue, a solvolysis route may be considered in order to recover monomers or other valuable molecules. Although good results are obtained after polymers sorting, this method remains sensitive to the composition of incoming flows, as well as the presence of contaminants. The Supercritical and Decontamination Processes Laboratory has developed an original depolymerization method in hydrothermal conditions (150 to 300°C and autogenous pressure) allowing to consider treatment of a mixture of end of life polymers (PET, PU, PC, PE, PVC). A parametric study will be carried out on a mixture of polymers of known composition by studying the influence of process parameters on the composition of the aqueous and organic phases, to define performance criteria such as conversion and depolymerization yields. Several end-of-life plastic wastes, alone or in a mixture, will be considered, to highlight a possible synergistic effect on the recovery of all or part of the recoverable monomers or products. Finally, an energy and mass balance will be implemented to study the complete life cycle of the process and to evaluate the relevance of the depolymerization process in hydrothermal conditions.
Behavior of materials in molten salts
Access to clean and affordable Energy is a key challenge in the current context of climate emergency. Several leads have been considered for several years but technological issues remain up to date to make it happen. From concentrated solar plant to 4th generation of nuclear reactor, molten salt is a promising media (both for heat transfer fluid and the fuel itself). Nevertheless, due to the presence of impurities, molten salts are highly corrosive for commonly used materials.
Most of the commercial alloys - either nickel based or iron base - seems to suffer from rapid attack. It is then needed to broaden the scope of the studies by investigating innovative materials. Thus, a screening of materials is planned to select the most interesting ones. After a thorough filtering, a study of the corrosion mechanism will be carried out through analysis at different scales (SEM, DRX, SDL, ICP, etc … )as well via electrochemical techniques and thermodynamic modelisation (HSC and FactSage).
The aim of the post doctoral subject offered at the S2CM (Service of corrosion and Behavior of Materials) consists in the entire study of the behavior, from the sample preparation to the caracterization of corrosion products. This topic is highly experimental and goes deep in the understanding of the corrosion mechanisms. This post doc position is part of a project gathering top - Notch industrial and academics (EDF,Framatome, Orano and the CNRS). Results obtained are subject to be presented to the different partners.
Microfluidic biocatalysis
The overall objective of the project is to propose a new mode of biocatalytic production based on continuous flow and combining macro and micro-fluidics. The aim is to develop a biocatalysis process involving fluidic bioreactors capable of ensuring continuous biotransformation, thanks to immobilized enzymes or whole cell catalysts. This process will be optimized to improve the efficiency of enzymatic reactions on the one hand and to obtain important production capacities on the other hand. Two types of enzymes will be studied, nitrilases and ketoreductases.
First, the candidate will be responsible for the search for robust enzymes for the target reactions and screening on the defined substrates. He or she will be responsible for the development of reaction conditions in isolated enzymes and whole cells and the determination of apparent kinetics. Then, he/she will be in charge of setting up the biocatalysis operating conditions and the immobilization of the biocatalyst in versatile continuous reactors.
This subject is carried out between two departments of the CEA (Direction of Fundamental Research/IBFJ/Genoscope in Evry and Direction of Technological Research/Leti in Grenoble).
The candidate will work in pair with a PhD student on the design of the biocatalytic reactor and the scaling up of the biocatalytic process.
Batteries recycling :Development and understanding of a new deactivation concept of lithium ion domestic batteries
Domestic lithium ion batteries gather all batteries used in electronic devices, mobile phone, and tooling applications. By 2030, the domestic lithium-ion battery market will increase up to 30%. With the new European recycling regulation and the emergency to find greener and safer recycling process, it is today necessary to develop new deactivation process of domestic lithium ion batteries.
The process has to address several lithium ion chemistries, be continuous, safe, controllable and low cost.
To develop this new concept, the first step will be to define the most appropriate chemical systems. Then these chemical systems will be tested in a dedicated experimental laboratory setup using chemistry and electrochemistry, allowing the simulation of real conditions of domestic batteries deactivation.
The third step will be to characterize, understand and validate the electrochemical and physico chemical mechanisms. The last step will be to participate to the validation of the deactivation concept on a real object (a lap top battery) in representative conditions (on the abuse tests plateform of CEA).
Hydrothermal carbonization as a pretreatment of wastes before their thermochemical conversion by gasification
Gasification, a thermochemical transformation generally performed at about 850°C, produces a gas that can be valorised in cogeneration, or for the synthesis of chemical products or fuels. Some bottlenecks are still present mainly for the gasification of biogenic or fossil origin wastes: irregular feeding in the reactor due to the heterogeneity in form and composition; formation of inorganic gaseous pollutants (HCl, KCl, NaCl, H2S) or organic ones (tars), which are harmful for the process and/or decrease its efficiency, and must be removed before the final application.
The objective of the post-doctoral work will be to test and optimize a pre-treatment step of the resource based on hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC). This transformation is performed at 180-250°C, in a wet and pressurised environment (2-10 MPa). The principal product is a carbonaceous solid residue (hydrochar), that can be valorised by gasification. HTC aims to limit the release of inorganic and organic pollutants in gasification, and to homogenise and improve the physical properties of the resource.
The proposed approach will consist in: experimentations in batch reactors on pre-selected resources and model materials, together with quantification and analyses of products; analysis of results aiming at elucidating the links between the resource and the properties of the hydrochar, as a function of operating conditions; an evaluation of mass and energy balances for the HTC-gasification process.
Modelling and evaluation of the future e-CO2 refinery
In the context of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the CEA has initiated a project in 2021 to assess the relevance of coupling a nuclear power system with a direct atmospheric carbon capture device (DAC) thanks to the use of the system's waste heat.
As a member of a team of about twenty experts(energy system evaluation, techno-economic engineering, energy system modeling, optimization and computer programming), you will participate in a research project on the modeling and evaluation of a CO2 refinery dedicated to the production of Jet Fuel fed by a nuclear reactor and coupled with an atmospheric CO2 capture process.