Mercury is one of the most dangerous pollutants. Yet, it has been widely used in the industry, in particular in electrolysers (chlor-alkali process), resulting in many contaminated facilities. Existing methods to stabilise or decontaminate are either energy-consuming or limited in terms of speciation. The aim here is to develop a new method combining leaching and ultrasonic irradiation, to decontaminate porous solids (e.g. mortar). The characterisation of solids and liquids before/after decontamination will be performed using SEM-EDX, XRD and XRF.
The PhD study will be performed in Marcoule centre, located 30 minutes from Avignon. The two host laboratories are the Laboratory of Supercritical Processes and Decontamination (DMRC/STDC/LPSD) and the Laboratory of Sonochemistry in Complex Fluids (ICSM//LSFC). Marcoule site is served by bus and hosts many PhDs and post-docs. The candidate should hold a master degree with a chemical engineering background and desirable skills in analytical chemistry and inorganic chemistry. The candidate will gain initial experience in the field of decontamination, which is one of the major problems associated with the circular energy economy. Depending on the focus of the thesis, they will be able to pursue a career in academia or industry.