COFUND PhD position – Green biocoat

Title of the thesis project: Green biocoat: anticorrosion coatings by biosourced molecules for renewable energies

In view of responding to the very significant demand in energy supply while fighting against global warming, a robust and reliable use of renewable energies is mandatory. Unfortunately, burning biomass or heating solar salts are extremely corrosive to infrastructures, let alone when they are placed on coastal areas whereby the external brine majorly contributes to additional degradation. From the environmental and societal perspectives, increasing the yield of such power plants while extending their lifetime is a real challenge.

Whether for biomass or solar thermal, the infrastructures are generally made of steel, which is prone to corrosion as mentioned above. High grade steels or even Ni-based alloys have been proposed in the open literature but the thousands of kilometers (tons) of these alloys make of the overall cost of infrastructures not viable. In this view, the application of protective coatings appears as the best choice, provided that they are applicable on large components (not just at lab scale), cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. The application of aluminium-diffused coatings using slurry technology was demonstrated to be quite successful on various types of steels like the ones employed in biomass and solar thermal power plants. 

Unfortunately, PVA is fabricated from petrol through various chemical reactions and is fully imported in the European Union, hence, limiting our sovereignty. However, the international interest on these coatings is growing worldwide because of the ease of application (spray, dip, paint), customisation possibilities (Al mixed with other protective elements and different heat treatments) to result in a diffusion coating that does not detach from the substrate, as opposed to overlay (e.g. thermal spray) coatings, and that forms a protective oxide scale against various corrosive and oxidation environments.

Because of the above, the MAIN GOAL of “Green biocoat” is to radically replace the petrol-outsourced PVA binder by marine biopolymers than can be extracted from marine ressources. However, the role of their composition in the ease of application of the new bio-slurry, the protection they may provide under high temperature corrosive environments and their cost and environmental efficiency are unknown given the originality of this research. Therefore, five specific objectives have been identified:
- SO1: Extraction, identification and screening of biopolymers issued from marine algae. The idea is to assess the optimal osidic compositions, molecular masses and sulfation degree that can be added to the slurry.
- SO2: Understand the interaction phenomena between the constituents of the slurry resulting in appropriate rheological properties hence ensuring the ease of application.
- SO3: Study the mechanisms of formation of the coatings on two typical steels (P91/P92 and 347) upon the application of different heat treatments.
- SO4: Identify the mechanisms of protection developed by the green biocoatings in relevant biomass (mixed sulfates and saline) and solar thermal (molten nitrates) environments.
- SO5: conduct lifecycle analysis to assess the economic and environmental impact of the coatings and link with industry through secondments in industry (manufacturer of turbine and end user)

The activites will be carried out in co-tutelle between La Rochelle University in France (2 years) and in the premises of Complutense University of Madrid (12 months).

La Rochelle University is anchored in a territory with very marked coastal characteristics. The university specializes its research around topic of Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (SMucs) and combines interdisciplinar approaches (materials, (bio)chemistry and process engineering) in this thesis subject.

Universidad Complutense de Madrid and it spin off company REP Energy Solutions (https://www.rep-energysolutions.com) specialize in the study corrosion of materials at high temperatures and on lifefecycle analysis in Madrid, Spain.

The new recruit will join the Laboratory of Engineering Sciences for the Environment (LaSiE).

Master's in Materials (Chemistry, Engineering), in Chemistry (Materials, biochemistry, inorganic chemistry), Chemical Engineering, in Physics (Materials).

Fully experimental profile, no modelling at all. 

Very good command of English. Notions of French and of Spanish are a real plus. 

Open minded, able to work under the supervision of women and men from different teams in La Rochelle and locations (La Rochelle and Madrid).

Good communication and writing skills.

Good organization of work, tidy at work and respect of delivery dates.