PhD student position in the Pharmaceutical technology group

Information about the research
We are daily surrounded by solid foams as packaging materials, isolating materials, distributers of body liquids in health care products etc. Today these materials are based on fossil raw materials and there is a wish to replace them with renewable materials, like cellulose and hemicellulose. This is the focus in a newly started project, Smart Foam, founded by FORMAS. The project will be hosted by CHALMERS University of Technology and is a part of CHALMERS' Area of Advance - Materials Science.

In Smart Foams we will recruit one post doc and two PhD students. The post doc will focus on extract and substitute hemicellulose, one of the PhD students will focus on characterization of the extracted raw materials, the foaming properties and the solid foam products and the last PhD student will develop and optimize the extrusion techniques for producing the foams. In close collaboration with the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIK) and Gothenburg University will other parallel parts of the research project investigate the environmental effects of our approach and to look into how one can transfer the gained knowledge to Swedish industry.

The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering consists of five divisions and has a total staff of around 400 persons, where Applied Chemistry as a staff of about 80. This PhD position will be placed in the Pharmaceutical Technology group at the division of Applied chemistry. The research activities in this group are focused on designing biomaterials for improving the health. The research is carried out in close collaboration with national and international industries and universities. Our graduate as well as undergraduate education is organized in a wide range of courses.

Major responsibilities
We offer a PhD student position in the area of characterization and properties of foamed biopolymers. The aim is to chemical characterize hemicellulose and cellulose derivatives in terms of molecular weight, degree of substitution, rheological behavior and investigate which polymer parameters that rule the foaming ability of the raw material. The project will also correlate the polymer parameters to the properties of the solid foam as the end product. This study will include both experimental and modeling approaches.

We expect that the candidate should be skilled in experimental set ups, present their work orally and in written form as publication in good journals. The candidate will also attend in teaching, and network within the project and international.

Especial focus in this PhD project will be on characterization of polymer properties and the ability to form foams. Other areas included in the project is:




• research

• communicate the results via publications, oral presentations

• teaching

• supervision of (master) students

• work in crossinterdisplinary project


Position summary
Full-time temporary employment. The position is limited to a maximum of five years.

Qualifications
The candidate should be interested in both experimental and modelling work. We believe that a suitable background is M Sc in Chemical Engineering, Engineering Physics or similar educations. Good knowledge in polymer science, modeling of flow behaviour and rheology is an advantage. The candidate is expected to take an active part in the teaching duties at the department. The undergraduate courses are normally taught in Swedish, and the graduate level teaching in English. Thus good language skills are required. Applicants who do not have Swedish as native language must be able to teach in Swedish after two years of employment. Chalmers offers Swedish courses.

Application procedure
The application should be marked with Ref 20130217 and written in English. The application should be sent electronically via CHalmers webpage.

Application deadline: 2013-10-10

For questions, please contact:
Project leader Smart Foams, Professor Anette Larsson, KB, anette.larsson@chalmers.se




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