Postdoctoral Position CFD simulation of adsorption in porous medium

Public establishment belonging to IMT (Institut Mines-Télécom), placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, IMT Nord Europe has three main objectives: providing our students with ethically responsible engineering practice enabling them to solve 21st century issues, carrying out our R&D activities leading to outstanding innovations and supporting territorial development through innovation and entrepreneurship. Ideally positioned at the heart of Europe, 1 hour away from Paris, 30 min from Brussels and 1h30 from London, IMT Nord Europe has strong ambitions to become a main actor of the current industrial transitions, digital and environmental, by combining education and research on engineering and digital technologies.

Located on two main campuses dedicated to research and education in Douai and Lille, IMT Nord Europe offers research facilities of almost 20,000m² in the following areas:

-              Digital science,

-              Energy and Environment,

-              Materials and Processes.

For more details, visit the School’s website : www.imt-nord-europe.fr

The position is available within the Energy Environment Teaching, Research, and Innovation Center (CERI EE) (https://recherche.imt-nord-europe.fr/energieenvironnement-ceri/). This center has about 60 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, 30 faculty researchers, 12 engineers and technicians, and 2 administrative assistants. It is currently structured around three thematic research axes: Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ), Atmospheric Observations, Sources, and Processes (OSPA), and Energy Fluids and Transfers (EFT). The candidate will integrate the EFT thematic axis, where the intensification of transfer phenomena in thermofluidic components is studied at various scales, applied to process engineering and energy, with a focus on decarbonizing society. Both experimental and numerical approaches are implemented to improve energy efficiency at the component, energy system, or process level.

Research Subject Context:

Gas separation occurs at various stages in the hydrogen (H2) production chain for purification purposes. This includes the purification of H2 after electrolysis, where separation from oxygen (O2) and water (H2O) is sought, or the purification of methane (CH4) after methanation (H2O/CH4 separation), which allows for the joint valorization of CO2 and H2 into CH4. The CO2 injected in this stage may also come from the biogas sector, where other purification stages such as CO2/CH4 separation occur.

The ARPEGE project (Improvement of Gas Purifier Performance Integrated into the H2 Chain), supported by the Hauts-de-France region, is the result of a public-private partnership between CERI EE and an industrial partner specializing in purification solutions. This project specifically focuses on improving the performance of adsorption processes. These processes use porous adsorbent materials, and separation occurs through pressure-modulated cycles (PSA, Pressure-Swing Adsorption) or temperature-modulated cycles (TSA, Temperature-Swing Adsorption). These processes can achieve remarkable purity levels for hydrogen, but the process’s profitability and some of its performance, particularly in terms of energy, are still improvable.

Tasks:

The goal of the ARPEGE project is to develop a 3D CFD model to accurately replicate the mass and thermal transfers occurring in purification technologies and to reproduce their dynamic behavior to optimize their performance. Initially, the target process will be PSA or TSA air dryers, which are proven and mastered technologies by the industrial partner who aims to adapt them in the H₂ chain. The adsorbent materials are those that allow for the capture and separation of water vapor (H₂O). The development of these models will rely on experimental results obtained in parallel with the postdoctoral work. The task will then be to optimize the effective properties of the adsorbent bed of the dryer, considering internal modifications to the geometry of the fixed bed in the short term. Finally, the last part of the numerical work will apply these models to a hydrogen purification process, where input data will partially come from the literature. Simulations will quantify potential gains in productivity, recovery rate, purity, and energy consumption.

Main Tasks for the Postdoctoral Candidate:

• Task 1: Development and validation of a 3D CFD numerical model
• Task 2: Optimization of the effective thermal properties of the adsorbent porous medium
• Task 3: Transposition to a hydrogen purification configuration
• Task 4: Writing of a scientific publication

Activities:

• Bibliographic study on the intensification of mass and heat transfers in multicomponent gas/solid porous media and the modeling of their effective properties
• Implement CFD numerical simulations to model the cycles of the industrial partner's purifiers, adapting models from an existing CFD code
• Validate these models with experimental results
• Optimize the separation unit by CFD simulation using an intensification technique
• Contribute to the supervision of interns performing experimental measurements
• Write one or more publications
• Deliver oral presentations at conferences
• Synthesize, present, and write progress reports (in English and French)
• Participate in project meetings with partners, particularly presenting project results
• Participation in teaching activities related to the Energy and Environment field, if the candidate wishes

Required profile:

The position is suitable for a candidate with a Ph.D. in process engineering and/or energy and/or fluid mechanics. The candidate should have a deep understanding of transfers in porous media and their modeling. They must have significant experience in using CFD software for numerical simulation of porous media, energy systems, and/or processes. Knowledge of adsorption and/or gas separation processes, numerical techniques, optimization, and programming will be highly valued. Experience in experimental measurements will be a plus.