The Industrial Sustainable Chemistry group of HIMS (UvA) is working on the (plastic) materials transition. Closed-loop recycling is important in a circular economy. In this project we will develop novel recycling technology for waste textiles, specifically cotton-polyester blends.
Yearly textile waste adds up to 110 million tons globally (13 kg per person), the majority going to landfill or incineration. For cotton/polyester (PET) mixtures (the largest volumes in textiles), no techno-economic recycling options exist today. In this project, Avantium's DAWN Biorefinery technology will be used for hydrolyzing cotton (mainly cellulose) to valuable building blocks, even when mixed with polyester. The residual PET will be recycled to rPET or upcycled to copolyesters. Avantium will host and guide the
2 PhD students in their Amsterdam labs. The project is a collaboration between the UvA (HIMS (2 PhD's) and Social Psychology (Post-Doc studying consumer involvement)), CuRe (PET recycling), Modint (fashion/textile industry org.), Wieland (textile recycling) and Groenendijk (textile user), all relevant partners across the textiles value chain (including sorting and recycling).
Do you enjoy working in an interdisciplinary research setting and do you want to be active in a project that aims to impact the sustainability of textiles? The Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences is looking for
2 ambitious PhD students. Your research is part of the Industrial Sustainable Chemistry:
The Industrial Sustainable Chemistry Group.
What are you going to doPhD1 will focus on the optimization and process development of cotton hydrolysis and residual PET recycling/upcycling. The candidate should have a background in organic- and/or polymer chemistry. In this project, fundamental research and applied research will be combined.
PhD2 will focus on converting hydrolysed cotton to FDCA, the monomer for the polyester PEF, currently being commercialized by Avantium. PhD2 should have a background in organic chemistry/catalysis or chemical process engineering. In this project, fundamental research and applied research will be combined.
Tasks and responsibilities:
- conducting independent research in Industrial Sustainable Chemistry, resulting in academic publications in peer-reviewed international journals and/or books;
- actively contributing to and developing national and international research networks and other forms of cooperation;
- teaching (practical) courses in English, in the bachelor and master programmes;
- supervising Bachelor and Master theses and tutoring students.