Phd - Bio-integrated carbon capture and utilization of flue gas CO2 to e-methane – exploring the power of methanogens

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 August 2025 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title

Bio-integrated carbon capture and utilization of flue gas CO2 to e-methane – exploring the power of methanogens

Research area and project description

You will be part of the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Center (CORC) with aim of developing knowledge and technology within the field of Carbon Capture and Utilization. You will be part of an interdisciplinary center, with experts inside biotechnology, chemistry, and engineering, joint in the effort to solve one of the greatest challenges of this century. For more information on the CO2 Research Center, please visit www.corc.au.dk

For the position, you will use your expertise in microbiology or engineering to study how methanogenic microorganisms can be used in capture and conversion of CO2 into e-methane.

Your work will focus on studying methanogenic physiology at the interphase of chemistry and microbiology, to enable the development of efficient biocatalysts that could be applicable for our different bioreactor platforms.

Project description

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.‍

Qualifications and specific competences

Applicant to the PhD position must have a relevant Masters’ degree in process engineering, microbiology, biological- or chemical engineering. The applicant should preferably have expertise or hands-on experience with:

• Experience with culturing of anaerobic microorganisms
• Chemical and microbiological analytical techniques
• Knowledge on microbial physiology
• Handling of lab-scale reactor setups (batch or continuous)
• Excellence in both written and spoken English

The project can be modified according to the expertise of the candidate.

You will be working in the research group “Microbial Conversion Technologies” as part of the Dept. of Biological & Chemical Engineering. As a group member you will be expected to be a team player, where you contribute to student co-supervision, teaching and day-to-day work of the group.

Place of employment and place of work

The place of employment is Aarhus University, Department of Engineering. You will primarily be working at Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, DK-8000 Aarhus C. significant part of the experimental work is expected to take place at the research facilities at AU Viborg (https://bce.au.dk/forskning/faciliteter).

Contacts

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

• Michael Vedel Wegener Kofoed, mvk@bce.au.dk (main 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 20 May 2025 at 23:59 CEST.

Preferred starting date is 01 August 2025.

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• 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.