PhD position for Wetsus - Produced Water Treatment with Membranes

Specificaties - (uitleg)

Locatie	Leeuwarden
Functietypes	PhD positions
Wetenschappelijke discipline	Natural Sciences,Engineering
Uren	40.0 uren per week
Werk-/denkniveau	University Graduate
Vacaturenummer	AT 12.03
Vertalingen	en

Solliciteer binnen 39 dagen op deze vacature

Recent developments in oil production technologies emphasize the application of Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies. These processes rely on the injection of aqueous liquids into an oil reservoir to increase the sweep efficiency and stimulate oil production. Current practice for offshore applications is that seawater is used as source water. Often, seawater shall be desalinated to meet the injection specifications. 
As an alternative to seawater desalination, produced water can be treated for reinjection to avoid the intake of seawater or freshwater. The produced fluids consist of a combination of crude oil, formation water and the injected water. In order to allow the reinjection of produced water, pretreatment and purification of the water is necessary to meet the specifications required for reinjection.

This project investigates the produced water reinjection possibilities for IOR and EOR. The purpose of this project is to identify, develop and demonstrate methods to pretreat and purify the produced water for reinjection. Next to artificial feed waters, produced water from oil production locations will be used in laboratory experiments. Attention shall be paid to both pre-treatment requirements, membrane fouling and development of new membranes for produced water treatment. The effect of residual oils, production chemicals (scale and corrosion controlling chemicals) and biocides on membrane performance will be evaluated.

Background; MSc in chemical engineering, biotechnology, physics or related, with adequate experimental and theoretical skills. Interest in membrane processes and applied research with industrial relevance.
Hands-on approach.

Arbeidsvoorwaarden

You will be working in a new, innovative, dynamic and future-directed research institute. You will be able to put your stamp on the development of new water technology. You will work in close collaboration with our industrial partners and also with top research groups at various universities. 
Salary and working conditions are according to the collective labor agreement of the Cooperative Association of Dutch Universities (VSNU) for PhD students. PhD students are appointed by one of the cooperating universities but research is mainly conducted at Wetsus in Leeuwarden.

Wetsus

Wetsus, centre of excellence for sustainable water technology is a facilitating intermediary for trend-setting know-how development. Wetsus creates a unique environment and strategic cooperation for development of profitable and sustainable state of the art water treatment technology. The inspiring and multidisciplinary collaboration between companies and research institutes in Wetsus results in innovations that contribute significantly to the solution of the global water problems. Innovation, partnership, joy, cooperation and reliability are the values around which all Wetsus’ activities are organized and performed.

Wetsus acts as Technological Top Institute for Water technology and is located in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. Wetsus’ scientific research program is defined by the private and public water sector and conducted by leading universities.

Promotor: dr. ir. D.C. Nijmeijer (University of Twente)
Co-promotor: prof. dr. ir. A. Janssen (University of Wageningen)

For further information you can contact Wetsus Scientific Project Manager Arie Zwijnenburg;arie.zwijnenburg@wetsus.nl.

All projects have to be formally approved by the Wetsus program council.

Fluency in English is a requirement.

Interview and a scientific presentation will be part of the selection procedure.

More info: http://www.academictransfer.com/employer/Wetsus/vacancy/12532/lang/en/

PhD Sand transport under breaking waves

Specificaties - (uitleg)

Locatie	Enschede
Functietypes	PhD positions
Wetenschappelijke discipline	Engineering
Uren	38.0 uren per week
Salaris	€ 2042 - € 2612
Werk-/denkniveau	University Graduate
Vacaturenummer	182439
Vertalingen	en nl

Solliciteer binnen 48 dagen op deze vacature

In the Water Engineering and Management Department of the Cluster of Civil Engineering a vacancy exists for a PhD student. 

Background: Research of the Water Engineering and Management group aims at developing knowledge of large natural water systems with the goals to develop instruments for the analysis of water management problems and to find solutions for these problems. Recently, a large research grant was awarded for a research project aimed at the improvement of sand transport models, which are to be applied for the management of shallow seas and the coast. More specifically the project focuses on sand that is transported by short waves in the landward or seaward direction (cross-shore transport), a sand transport component which is of  great importance to coastal erosion and  accretion.  This project will involve close collaboration between 3 postdoctoral researchers and a PhD student based at the Universities of Aberdeen, Liverpool and Twente. 

Project description and allocation of tasks: The PhD research will be aimed at the development of a model for sand transport under breaking waves. During the breaking process of waves near the beach large quantities of sand are stirred up from the sea bed and transported. The detailed dynamics of this transport process, which takes place near the sea bed (bed-load) as well as higher in the water column (suspended-load), are still relatively unknown and quantitative transport models for breaking waves are therefore still unreliable.      

The PhD student will approach the research problem by:

-          Acquiring  insight into the dynamics and in the modeling of fluid flow and sand fluxes induced by wave breaking, using existing literature, models and measurements.

-          Conducting laboratory experiments with breaking waves in the large wave channel at the Technical University of Catalonia in Barcelona; in this unique laboratory facility waves and the sand transport process can be simulated close to full scale. For the duration of the project (4 years) three series of experiments are planned, each spanning two months.

-          Contributing to the development of a new sand transport model, that can be implemented in morphological modeling systems for practical problems in the marine coastal environment. All researchers in the project will contribute to this model development, which will be carried out in close collaboration with the involved Dutch and English agencies (the ‘Users’ of the transport model).        

Projectmeetings will be organized two times per year; meeting venues will rotate between Twente, Aberdeen and Barcelona.

Functie-eisen

We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD student with knowledge of or strong affinity with fluid mechanics and transport processes, experimental research, and coastal sediment dynamics. The candidate should have a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, (Geo)Physics, Physical Geography or a closely related area. Further, we find it important that the researcher is able to set his or her research in a broader perspective (internationally) and that he or she will be able to coordinate this with the involved parties. Therefore, we are looking for people with an open mind, strong communicative qualities and excellent comprehension of English, both in spoken language and in writing. Comprehension of the Dutch language is beneficial.

Information and applications: For more information about this vacancy you can contact dr.ir. Jan S. Ribberink, telephone             +31 53 489 2767       (email: j.s.ribberink@utwente.nl). More information is available atwww.wem.ctw.utwente.nl (about the Water Engineering and Management Department). The start of the project is planned around February or March 2012. 
Your written application, with a CV, academic record (including a list of courses with marks), the names and addresses of two references and, if applicable, a list of publications should be sent before the 6^th of January 2012 through the following  application link.

Arbeidsvoorwaarden

We offer a position as a PhD student at the University of Twente. The salary for PhD research starts at € 2042,- gross per month for the first year and extends to a maximum of € 2612,- gross per month in the fourth year (in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities). In addition, the University of Twente offers attractive fringe benefits.

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which drives change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlands; divided over six faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. The University of Twente has a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out pioneering research. 

The Faculty of Engineering Technology (CTW) is one of the six University of Twente's faculties. CTW combines Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering. Our faculty has approximately 1800 bachelor's and master's students, 300 employees and 150 PhD candidates. The faculty is organized in a matrix: the departments cooperatively conduct the educational programmes and participate in interdisciplinary research projects, programmes and the following research institutes: IMPACT, MIRA, CTIT, IBR and IGS.

See: http://www.academictransfer.com/employer/UT/vacancy/11997/lang/en/