Towards the chemical recycling of plastic wastes: Understanding plastic pyrolysis oil hydrodechlorination

23 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN)

Research Field

Engineering » Process engineering
Chemistry

Researcher Profile

Recognised Researcher (R2)
Leading Researcher (R4)
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Established Researcher (R3)

Country

France

Application Deadline

30 May 2024 – 22:00 (UTC)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Offer Starting Date

4 Nov 2024

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

In the context of growing interest in circular economy solutions, chemical recycling by pyrolysis is a promising way of converting plastic and tyre waste into pyrolysis oil and then back into monomers and/or chemical bases in steam cracking or refining processes.

However, the presence of chlorine in pyrolysis oils poses major problems for downstream recovery processes: deactivation of catalysts, fouling and corrosion. Dechlorination by hydrotreatment of pyrolysis oils is therefore a necessary purification step upstream of recovery processes.

Due to the presence of various contaminants (nitrogen, sulphur, oxygen) and cracking products (olefins, diolefins) in pyrolysis oils, dechlorination reactions are strongly affected by matrix effects, involving, for example, competitive adsorption between reactants as well as recombination of HCl with olefins or nitrogen compounds. Understanding these phenomena is essential for the design of innovative catalyst formulations and dedicated process schemes, as well as for the kinetic modelling of hydrodechlorination reactions in pyrolysis oils.

The aim of this thesis will therefore be to further our understanding of hydrodechlorination reaction kinetics and the associated matrix effects. To this end, the thesis will comprise two parts focusing on experimentation and kinetic modeling of the test data obtained. The experiments will be carried out on a continuous flow pilot-scale reactor at IFPEN to study the reactivity, kinetics, and effects of operating conditions on various reactions. The experiments will be carried out with several model molecules (organochlorine, olefin, and nitrogen compounds), and finally on a real feedstock of pyrolysis oil from plastics. Advanced analytical techniques will be used to characterize the feedstocks and effluents. Finally, a kinetic model based on mass balances will be used to study the kinetics and matrix effects between the molecules, and then to apply the knowledge obtained to the hydrotreatment of real feedstocks.

 

Academic supervisor	Prof. Melaz TAYAKOUT, LAGEPP, UCBL1, ORCID: 0000-0002-0667-3535 Dr. Gerhard PIRNGRUBER, IFPEN, ORCID: 0000-0003-0688-425X
IFPEN supervisor	Dr. Minh Tuan NGUYEN, ORCID: 0000-0003-1284-9354
Duration and start date	3 years, starting in the fourth quarter 2024 (Novembre 4)
Employer	IFPEN

Funding category: Financement public/privé
IFPEN
PHD title: Doctorat de Génie Chimique
PHD Country: France

Requirements
Specific Requirements

Academic requirements

University Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering / Chemistry

Language requirements

English level B2 (CEFR), willing to learn French

Other requirements

Knowledge in kinetics with aptitude and interest in heterogeneous catalysis. Knowledge in mathematical modeling is a plus.

Additional Information
Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN)

Country

France

City

Solaize (near Lyon)

Geofield

Where to apply

Website

https://www.abg.asso.fr/fr/candidatOffres/show/id_offre/121675

Contact

Website

https://theses.ifpen.fr/en/thesis/towards-chemical-recycling-plastic-wastes-understanding-plastic-pyrolysis-oil

STATUS: EXPIRED