PhD Position in Decarbonizing the Future of the Chemical Industry

The Ecological Systems Design Group at ETH Zürich is an internationally leading research group in the field of modelling and improving the resource efficiency and environmental performance of products and processes from a systems perspective. We are inviting applications to fill a PhD position in “Decarbonizing the Future of the Chemical Industry”.

This PhD position is contributing to several projects in the field of sustainable chemicals manufacturing. One of them may be the multi-year “NCCR Catalysis” project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The goal of the project is to accelerate the urgently needed shift from a polluting fossil-based chemical industry to a more sustainable one.

The work will be carried out in an interdisciplinary team at the Ecological Systems Design Group. The primary objective of this doctoral project is to define and assess transition pathways for sustainable chemical supply chains on a global scale. The project aims to develop a comprehensive framework that integrates site-level data with industry-wide models to evaluate both current and future chemical production processes. Your work will involve setting up a database of global chemical production sites, focusing on production amounts, energy use, and regionalized environmental impacts. You will utilize existing high-quality data sources, commercial databases, and machine-learning-augmented life cycle assessment (LCA) tools to generate energy and mass balances for key production processes. A significant part of the project will be linking these production activities with regional energy supplies to trace the interconnected chemical supply chains, allowing for a detailed life cycle impact assessment.

You will be responsible for developing methods to quantify and evaluate the environmental impacts of novel chemical production pathways, focusing on the integration of alternative raw materials (e.g., biogenic sources) and innovative recycling approaches (e.g. chemical recycling). Additionally, your research will explore feedback loops between process advances (such as catalyst or solvent development) and the overall sustainability transition of the chemical industry. Throughout the project, you will collaborate closely with industry stakeholders and academic experts to validate your models and ensure the applicability of your findings. An integral part of your work is publishing your results in peer-reviewed journals and presenting them at international conferences.

Your qualifications should include:

• A master level university degree in chemical engineering, process engineering, environmental engineering, environmental sciences, technical chemistry, computational chemistry or similar studies with excellent grades
• Experience in modelling and programming; some prior skills in machine learning are beneficial
• Knowledge and experience in the topics of life cycle assessment and chemicals manufacturing would be a benefit but are not required

Your employment will be contracted according to standard regulations at ETH (funding secured for 4 years). The project will start in January 2025 or upon mutual agreement. You are expected to contribute to the teaching and research activity up to a maximum of 20% of your working time.

ETH Zurich is a family-friendly employer with excellent working conditions. You can look forward to an exciting working environment, cultural diversity and attractive offers and benefits.