Recent publicity around disproportionate plastic litter has animated societal discussion on plastic recycling and circularity, which resulted in numerous reports and initiatives on plastic waste recycling.

PUR is an important polymer for Shell, particularly the flexible PUR foams applied e.g. in mattresses. But PUR is also challenging for recyclers. Being a thermoset, PUR is not amenable to melting and reprocessing. This limits mechanical recycling to chipping to small pieces for use as filler in new products. Chemical recycling is also challenging. Hydrolysis, alcoholysis, and aminolysis processes have been developed to recover the polyol. However, the diisocyanate component is often discarded as waste or used as filler for new lower-grade materials.

We propose here to explore depolymerization approaches that allow full recovery and valorization of the PUR components, i.e. the polyols as well as the diisocyanate. We want to regenerate the diisocyanate without using toxic and hazardous phosgene.

It concerns a project financed by Shell Global Solutions, Amsterdam (Prof. dr. J.-P. Lange, part-time professor at the Univ. of Twente). The research will be carried out in close collaboration with the 'Sustainable process technology' group (Prof. dr. S.R.A. Kersten, UT) where another PhD student is involved in the integrated process elements.

We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD student with interest in organic chemistry who likes to work on a multidisciplinary, applied project in a stimulating, international environment. An MSc degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering is required by the time of employment. You are a collaborative and proactive person, a team player and you want to become a scientific expert and independent researcher.

We offer a contract for 4 years. Salary and conditions will be in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) of the Dutch Universities.

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which drives change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. The University of Twente has a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out groundbreaking research.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Because of our diversity values we do particularly support women to apply.