PhD fellowship - Reactive mass transfer in trickle‑bed reactors

Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Biological and Chemical Engineering programme. The position is available from 01 June 2026 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title:
Reactive mass transfer enhancement in trickle-bed reactors for gas conditioning: Process and model development

Research area and project description:
This PhD-study contributes to two projects both focusing on optimizing reactive mass transfer processes in trickle-bed reactors for gas conditioning. In one project (The Acetate Consortium initiative https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/climate-resilient-food-innovation-international-consortium-aims-to-produce-food-prototypes-derived-from-co2/), the focus is on elimination of sulfur compounds and VOC in captured CO2 streams order to enable its downstream utilization, which is accomplished by a combination of chemical and biological processes in multistage treatment chains. The objective of this project is to enable CO2-to-protein and other CO2 valorization strategies. The other project (PERMA-FS) targets the need for efficient pre- and post-treatment systems for the MEPS (methane eradication photochemical system) in order to 1) improve MEPS efficiency by eliminating VOC, sulfur compounds and nitrogen compounds and 2) avoid emission of residual chlorine compounds from the MEPS process.

The overall focus of the combined PhD-project is to optimize treatment processes by means of reactive mass transfer enhancement. This is accomplished by a combination of experimental investigations and numerical model development. Activities include process development, parameter estimation and model validation. The model is used for both integrating acquired knowledge and for simulating and designing upscaled technology. Process optimization involves selection of packing material, flow configuration and designing optimum chemical systems in order to achieve mass transfer enhancement.

Qualifications and specific competences:
Applicants must have a master’s degree (120 ECTS) or at least one completed year of a master’s programme in environmental science, environmental or chemical engineering, biotechnology, bioengineering, or a related field, including a strong interest in combining experimental research with numerical modelling in relation to trickle-bed reactors for gas treatment.

• Your MSc curriculum should contain a solid foundation in physical chemistry and chemical engineering
• Interest in gas treatment processes both from experimental and modelling perspectives.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a research team.
• Experience with numerical modelling of mass transfer and/or kinetics is an advantage.
• Experience with gas phase analytical chemistry is an advantage.
• Solid skills in data analysis (e.g. R, Python, Matlab, or similar).
• Ability to analyse and interpret experimental data and contribute to model development.
• Good written and spoken English.

Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Gustav Wieds Vej 10D, 8000 Aarhus C., Denmark.

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information regarding the PhD position are invited to contact:

• Professor Anders Feilberg, e-mail: af@bce.au.dk (main supervisor)
• Associate Professor Michael Vedel Kofoed, e-mail: mvk@bce.au.dk (co-supervisor)

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide. If answers cannot be found there, please contact:

• admission.gradschool.tech@au.dk

How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application.

Application deadline is 06 April 2026 23:59 CEST.
Preferred starting date is 01 June 2026.

For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above, and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.