Research assistant to SLU

We are now seeking a research assistant to our customer SLU Department of Energy and Technology. The assignment will as soon as possible and is expected to continue for 3 months. This is a full time job and you will be employed as one of Poolias appreciated consultants.

Selection and interviews are ongoing, so submit your application today.

Om tjänsten
At the Department of Energy and Technology, research and education are conducted focusing on how agriculture can contribute to a sustainable society. We have extensive expertise in technology and systems for sustainable production of food and bioenergy, including optimal nutrition circuits and logistics systems. Within the field of methodology we have extensive competence in System Analysis including Environmental Systems Analysis and LCA, as well as Biometrics (statistics and mathematics with applications in biological systems) and Automation.

About the position
The sanitation sector is increasingly focusing on resource recovery as a way to adapt to environmental challenges. At the same time, the World needs flexible and safe sanitation systems that can be scaled-up quickly to service the billions of people currently lacking access to a proper toilet. A new sanitation paradigm is emerging with flexible, decentralized solutions that recover resources in the form of nutrients, water and energy for use in a variety of productive sectors.
SLU has developed a new technology to treat source-separated human urine, where fresh human urine is chemically stabilised and then evaporated to produce water and a solid fertilizer. The technology has been piloted in several locations across Sweden (e.g., at the offices of VA Syd). If implemented globally, human urine could substitute about one-quarter of current nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers worldwide.

The overall goal of this project will be to develop the next generation of treatment technologies for source-separating sanitation systems, with focus on removing micropollutants from human urine. The project will develop a key technology that could accelerate implementation of such sanitation systems in real-life settings – an advanced oxidation pre-treatment reactor that chemically stabilizes nutrients excreted in urine while removing micropollutants like pharmaceutical residues that are also excreted in human urine. The ambition is to transition urine source-separation from a niche, single toilet technology (e.g., at Scandinavian summer houses) to a mainstream community-scale technology (e.g., multi-story buildings). Because urine is safely converted to fertilizer, nutrients and micropollutants will never reach wastewater treatment plants or water recipients.

Your profile
Required:
• Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a focus on civil-, environmental-, chemical-, biochemical-, process engineering or equivalent
• Good knowledge of English in speech and writing

Meriting:
• Prior work and handling of human urine samples
• Knowledge and experience working with wastewater systems

Great emphasis is placed on personal qualities, such as the ability to work together, analytical and problem-solving ability as well as the ability to work independently.

About the organisation
Please apply by registering your CV here on our website. Click on the "Ansök" button to the right. It is our recommendation that you register as much information as possible and that you attach a complete CV-document. Please check that your correct e-mail address is registered.

Poolia is a registered staffing agency, meaning that we comply with the requirements set by Kompetensföretagen - the Swedish Association of Staffing Agencies.