Job openings in Program 4

Circular Prospects

PhD student positions

  • Description of project

    Background:

    Currently, biomass replaces fossil fuels mainly in the energy sector, but less so in the chemical industry. However, in the energy sector, alternatives to biomass are available, while biomass may be a fundamental resource for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in the chemical industry. Currently, state-of-the-art modelling approaches for developing climate neutrality scenarios, however, mostly do not consider the chemical sector at all.

    Research Objectives:

    • Determining the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that can be substituted by replacing fossil fuels with biomass in the chemical sector

    • Determining in which sectors biomass is best used to reduce co2-emissions cost-effectively

    • Estimating at which relative carbon, fossil fuel, and biomass prices the use of biomass is cost-effective in the chemical sector

    • Understanding which products developed in Circular Bioengineering have the largest prospects for reducing emissions

    Methods:

    We expand the energy system model pypsa-eur by adding conversion technologies in the chemical industry, and demand for all biomass uses, i.e. materials, energy, food, feed, and the chemical industry. Integrate this model with the model in the second, Post-Doc project to develop full climate neutrality scenarios for the European Union.

    Main supervisor: Associate Prof. Johannes Schmidt

    Co-supervisors: Associate Prof. Karl-Heinz Erb, Univ.-Prof. Hermine Mitter

    International Co-supervisor: Associate Prof. Elisabeth Wetterlund

    Location: BOKU University (Vienna)

    How to apply

Postdoc positions

  • Background

    Currently, state-of-the-art modelling approaches for developing climate neutrality scenarios do not include the agriculture and forestry sectors explicitly, therefore neglecting the trade-off between biomass use and increasing carbon sinks.

    Research Objectives

    • Determining which amounts of biomass can cost-effectively contribute to reaching climate neutrality in the European Union (EU)

    • Estimating the trade-off between carbon sinks and use of biomass for fossil fuel replacement

    • Understanding differences for country carbon balances, under different assumptions about how the land-use, land-use change and forestry sectors are accounted for within the EU

    Methods

    We expand the energy system model pypsa-eur to incorporate the agricultural and forestry sectors for the whole of the EU. Integrate this model with the model in the second, PhD project to develop full EU climate neutrality scenarios.

    Indicate the state-of-the-art and describe why the project is beyond state-of-the art and how it will lead to new insights and potential discoveries.

    Main supervisor: Associate Prof. Johannes Schmidt

    Co-supervisors: Associate Prof. Karl-Heinz Erb, Univ.-Prof. Hermine Mitter

    International supervisor: Associate Prof. Elisabeth Wetterlund

    Location: BOKU University (Vienna)

    Duration: 48 months (20h/week)

    How to apply