PhD position in Circular Economy - Recycling of Decommissioned Wind Turbine Blades

The Section of Engineering Operations Management at the Department of Technology and Innovation invites applications to one or more fully-funded 3-year PhD position in circular economy of value chains for decommissioned wind turbine blades in relation to the research project Decomblades. The research program is funded by Innovation Fond Denmark.

The PhD project
The Ph.D. will be part of the large research and innovation project – Decomblades – sponsored by the Innovation Fund Denmark, where a consortium of 10 industrial and university partners (Ørsted A/S, Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy A/S, LM Wind Power A/S, HJ Hansen, Makeen Power A/S, FLSmidth A/S, Fonden Energy Innovation Cluster, Technical University of Denmark and University of Southern Denmark) aim to develop, test and assess three different solutions for decommissioning of composite wind turbine blades.

An increasing number of wind turbines in Denmark and abroad have been erected over the last decades are gradually reaching end of life (EoL) and will therefore soon need to be decommissioned. Most wind turbine components are made from steel and other materials being easy to recycle. However, wind turbine blades are made of fiber glass and carbon fiber reinforced thermoset composites, which are difficult to recycle and mostly end up as landfill or are incinerated. For instance, in Europe 70,000 tons of EoL blades will be decommissioned by 2025, and this is expected to raise to 230,000 tons by 2040. 70% of the cost of recycling are by the industry today found to be connected to supply chain issues. The need for sustainable solutions for the wind industry, is therefore important in Denmark, Europe and worldwide. Focus of Decomblades is on three promising large-scale solutions for decommissioning of composite materials i.e. cement kiln, pyrolysis and mechanical grinding.

Within this particular PhD project you will develop, test and document sustainable/circular economic logistics/supply chain management methods/frameworks for the three different recycling streams. This PhD project is expected to conduct a systematic mapping of the end of life cycle management routes and assess their environmental and economic performances, based on a flexible and integrated model framework combing Material Flow Analysis (MFA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA). Also, number of blades, locations and specification of blades in Denmark and in Europe are to be mapped and analyzed. A thorough literature review on the topic and methods, as well as an extensive data collection will be done in collaboration with participating industrial partners. Both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (survey, modelling etc.) will be part of the research effort done to deliver assessments of alternative recycling methods for wind turbine blades.

As a PhD fellow at the Faculty of Engineering you will also work closely together with other researcher from section of Engineering Operations Management and the department of Green Technology.

The starting time is as soon as possible and agreed with the candidate, and the location is at the main campus in Odense.

Job description

• You will conduct qualitative and quantitative research in the whole supply chain of decommissioning of wind turbine blades among the participating companies and organizations.
• You will support the industrial partners in integrating the developed models/frameworks into strategic / tactical / operational decisions.
• You will publish and present your work both at international conferences and in scientific journals with high impact.
• You will participate in the PhD research education program at the University of Southern Denmark.
• You will assist in teaching and project supervision activities at University of Southern Denmark.

Profile and requirements

• MSc degree in Operations Management, Industrial Engineering, Environmental Management, Life Cycle Engineering or similar education (equivalent to a Danish master's degree).
• Having a dedicated interest in exploring the domain of circular economy within wind power.
• Self-going and good communication skills to be able to gather empirical data from the participation companies.
• Good written and oral communication skills.
• Comfortable working both independently and within a team.
• Willingness to support industrial partners and overall research project progress.
• Interested in longer term commitment to a growing research group.
• Interested in contributing to teaching / supervision.
• Fluent English (and preferable fluent in Danish), both spoken and written.

Research environment
The research environment at the Section of Engineering Operations Management focuses on how technologies, engineering and management methods can be applied to make product / services and operations processes more digital, sustainable and competitive for businesses operating in the global marketplace. The environment is interdisciplinary with a group of PhD students and where research programs are developed in close collaboration with industry.

Contact information
Further information about this position is available from Associate Professor, PhD, Erik Skov Madsen, phone: +45 51644015, email: [email protected].
If you experience technical problems you must contact [email protected].

Conditions of employment
Applicants are required to have a master’s degree (equivalent to a Danish master's degree) at the time of enrollment and employment. Employment as a PhD fellow is a 3-year salaried position (start salary approx. 384.936,70 DKK including 17,1% pension).

Employment of a PhD fellow can only happen after the Head of the PhD School has approved the candidate for admission to the PhD school. Employment and enrollment will cease without further notice at the end of the period.

A PhD fellow is not allowed to have any kind of sideline employment, while enrolled as PhD fellow at the faculty.

Employment is governed by the Protocol on PhD Research Fellows signed by the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Please check links for more information on salary and taxation.

The successful candidate will be enrolled at SDU in accordance with Faculty regulations and the Danish Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities (PhD order), read more here.

The assessment process
Read about the Assessment and selection process. Shortlisting may be used.

Application procedure
The Faculty expects applicants to read the Faculty information for prospective PhD students and the SDU information on How to apply before applying.

The application deadline is 14th of February 2021.

The application must be in English and must include the following - the required forms must be found at the above mentioned Faculty website:

• Completed TEK PhD application form for 5+3 applicants.
• Motivation letter stating your specific interest, motivation and qualifications for the project in question (max. 2 pages). Upload in the field called “Project description”.
• Detailed Curriculum Vitae, describing research, publication and teaching experience, computational skills and including personal contact information.
• A short research proposal featuring: title, aim/objective, background, expected contribution, proposed methodology, work plan, bibliography (3-4 pages including references). Upload in the field called “Other relevant material”.
• Verified copies of the official bachelor diploma and master's diploma and transcripts of exams, both original and in professional English translation.
• Completed TEK PhD form for calculation grade point average. Upload in one of the fields called “Publication”.
• An official document describing the grading scheme of the awarding universities (if not Danish). Upload in one of the fields called “Publication”.
• An official and verified written assessment of the thesis or dissertation project from the grade giving institution, if the thesis/examination project is evaluated by approved/passed. The statement must clearly state that the candidate has been among the top 30 pct. in the graduation class for the study programme.
• List of publications and examples of relevant publications, in case you have any publications. Please attach one pdf-file for each publication.
• Three names and emails of researcher, who can provide an informed reference letter at short notice/References, if any.
• The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.