Offre de thèse / PhD proposal
“REVeBIO End of life of electronic devices printed on cellulosic substrates: recycling and valorization of
biosourced materials and functional inks"

Résumé du projet / Project summary
REVeBIO project takes place in the context of the growth of printed electronic-devices production. New questions arise regarding the end-of-life of such products and in particular their recyclability and their impact on environment and health. To fulfill the targets of the European Green Deal and to include the development of these new electronic bio-based materials within a circular economy, the aims of REVeBIO project are (1) to develop eco-efficient recycling processes to selectively separate all the recovered materials (cellulosic fibers and added-value ink components), (2) to quantify the recovered materials in order to evaluate their environmental impact on the solid as well as on the liquid rejects, (3) to valorize and reuse the recovered rejects made of a mixture of cellulosic fines, minerals and added-value ink components (silver in majority) by investigating two valorization ways. The first one consists in the extraction and purification of silver to produce nano- or micro- silver particles using a) chemical processes and b) thermo-conversion of the recycling rejects. The second one will explore the partial thermo-conversion of the carbon-containing rejects originating from the silver extraction, into a bio-sorbent suitable for the remediation of effluents derived from paper manufacturing, converting and printing processes. The ambition of the project will also be to reuse the recovered cellulosic fibers to design a new eco-designed cellulosic substrate which can be used to make a novel recycled paper-based e-device.
REVeBIO project is in line with LGP2 priority objectives and benefits from a large ecosystem: a PhD dealing with this thematic is in progress and a European project will also begin in September 2022. To reach the objectives of REVeBIO, a complementary consortium gathers four academic laboratories: LGP2 and LEPMI (Grenoble), ISCR (Rennes) and RAPSODEE (Albi). Within REVeBIO project, two PhD will be recruited: one by LGP2/LEPMI to work on the recycling processes and on the metal extraction (the present proposal) and the other one by ISCR/RAPSODEE to work on the valorization of the produced rejects.

Localisation et aspects pratiques / Location and practical aspects
PhD student will work under the supervision of 3 senior researchers, N. REVERDY-BRUAS, N. MARLIN and L. SVECOVA, expert respectively in printed electronics, recycling processes and metal extraction/valorization. The research work will be performed in LGP2, Laboratory of Process Engineering for Biorefinery, Bio-based Materials and Functional Printing - UMR 5518 (Grenoble INP-UGA, France, https://lgp2.grenoble-inp.fr/en) and LEPMI, Laboratory of Electrochemistry and Physical-Chemistry of Materials and Interfaces - UMR 5279 (Grenoble INP-UGA, France, https://lepmi.grenoble-inp.fr/en). The candidate will have access to all equipment of LGP2, LEPMI and UGA analytical platforms. Her/his work will be conducted in close collaboration with ISCR (Rennes, https://iscr.univ-rennes1.fr/), and RAPSODEE (Albi, https://www.imt-mines-albi.fr/en/). The project is financed by ANR and the PhD student will be hired by Grenoble INP. The gross salary will be approximately 2100 €/month.
PhD start: November 2nd, 2022.

Profil recherché /Applicant qualifications
The candidate should have a master degree - or equivalent - and a solid knowledge in process engineering and physico-chemical processes. The knowledge of lignocellulose chemistry and a previous experience in laboratory in this field will be appreciated. The candidate should have a strong aptitude for experimental work and be able to work independently. Oral and writing skills, both in French and English language, will also be required. Soft skills will be appreciated as well as scientific ones. He/she will be enrolled in the I-MEP2 doctoral school from Grenoble-INP-UGA.

Pour candidater / How to apply?
Send your CV, a motivation letter, master transcript (marks) and reference letters to Nadège Reverdy-Bruas, Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser. – Dead line to apply: October 10, 2022