Biorefinery Demonstration Plant Engineer Grass is Irelands most abundant land resource and forms a key component of our primary sectors, representing over 90% of total agricultural land.
Irelands agricultural sector faces challenging environmental targets and market uncertainty.
The emerging bioeconomy offers opportunities for primary sectors to use primary and secondary materials in a more resource-efficient way creating a more diversified product portfolio, with the possibilities of displacing unsustainable products and creating new revenue streams.
The vast scale of Irelands grasslands can offer a particularly strategic and scalable opportunity for developing its bioeconomy potential.
Green biorefineries are seen as a key enabling technology for developing the potential bioeconomic potential of grasslands with the potential to produce fodder, protein concentrates and products, high value sugar streams, technical fibres and platform chemicals.
The green biorefinery sector is an emerging industry in countries such as Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria and Germany where commercial or demonstration-scale activity is underway.
However further work is required to optimise these production models for wider uptake, including incorporation of different local feedstocks, improving processes and increasing yields and delivering high quality products while achieving environmental and socio-economic sustainability.
The CircBio Research Group, based at MTU plays a leading role in the development of green biorefinery technologies for processing green biomass feedstocks into sustainable protein, bio-based materials, energy and fertilisers.
This can be seen in the groups previous activities such as Biorefinery Glas, Bio4Africa, Farm Zero C and many more.
The successful candidate will work on some of the groups new and exciting international projects in this domain.
This position will suit engineering candidates with previous industrial experience of bioeconomy-related domains such as biorefining, bioenergy (e.g., sectors such as anaerobic digestion) and nutrient recycling.
Munster Technological University, through CircBio will lead a new first-of-its-kind decentralised green biorefinery demonstration initiative funded under the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU).
"Rural BioReFarmeries" project No.
, will advance the development of farmcentred bioeconomy approaches through the deployment of green biorefineries across grassland regions of Europe.
Two primary green biorefinery and anaerobic digestion demonstration sites in Ireland and Denmark will optimise the conversion of grasses, clover and green biomass residues sourced from local farms into value-added products such as human and animal grade protein, bio-based food packaging, flavours, antimicrobials, fertiliser and energy, in collaboration with upstream research and industrial sites in Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark and Poland.
Description of Work This position of Biorefinery Demonstration Plant Engineer is an exciting opportunity to help oversee the implementation and management of a grass biorefinery demo facility at Farm Zero C, Cork Ireland.
The engineer will work closely with the MTU project team, based at Kerry (Tralee) and Cork, along with the broader Farm Zero C Team at Shinagh Farm to demonstrate a new green biorefinery demonstration facility in a farming environment.
In the addition the engineer will collaborate closely with Irish and EU downstream partners (who will further analyse projects), industry (product end-users) and the green biorefinery demonstration plant of Aarhus University, Viborg, home to the Danish demo site.
The position would suit a candidate in backgrounds such as process engineering, marine engineer (Maskin Mester), agricultural engineering, mechanical engineering, energy engineering, with experience of large scale process integration, management and maintenance in a relevant technology space.
Tasks and Responsibilities include: Operate, implement the Rural BioReFarmeries farm-scale green biorefinery demonstration facility at Farm Zero C, Ireland, with support from supervisor and colleagues Collaborate with project and farm colleagues to schedule the timely provision of green biomass feedstock in a suitable manner for processing within the green biorefinery Manage biorefinery equipment and parameters for the conversion of biomass into different co- products (e.g., press cake, protein concentrate and brown juice) Test different green biorefinery feedstocks under different processing conditions (e.g., different biorefinery pre-treatment systems) Liaise with fellow Rural BioReFarmeries researchers to allow for sample taking from different process streams which will be investigated by fellow researchers and industry partners downstream Record data related to process parameters to enable process optimization (e.g., temperature, pressures, throughput, yields etc) and development of mass and energy balances for subsequent by research colleagues in studies such as LCA and technoeconomics Develop with supervisor and colleagues a standardized method for collection, comparison and analysis of green biorefinery feedstock and process data Liaise closely with the biorefinery team from our sister green biorefinery demo site at Aarhus University, Viborg to collect and compare data, along with the wider Rural BioReFarmeries project team Ensure that risks within the biorefinery are identified and mitigated in collaboration with supervisor Ensure that the biorefinery is maintained and/or repair at regular intervals and as necessary over time Liaise with colleagues on secure management and supply of sample co-products to colleagues and partners Support CircBio team colleauges on bench and pilot scale processing prior to scale up Support the Rural BioReFarmeries team in efforts to scale activities from bench to pilot Collaborate with and support coordinator on day-to-day Rural BioReFarmeries management and reporting activities Mentoring of PhD students involved in tasks related to the green biorefinery and Rural BioReFarmeries projects Management and mitigation of project risks related to green biorefinery implementation Laise with partners (CircBio, University of Galway, BiOrbic, UCD, TCD and others) working to optimize and scale anaerobic digestion process from biorefinery residues Participate in, contribute to and co-organize project related external events such as demonstration days, workshops, training and promotional events, as well as internal project meetings Contribute to future green biorefinery design and development work Writing technical reports and contributing to peer-reviewed publications Contributing to the broader activities of CircBio and Rural BioReFarmeries Candidates must demonstrate the following: BSc/BEng, MSc/MEng or PhD in a related engineering area (e.g., process engineering, marine engineer (Maskin Mester), agricultural engineering, mechanical engineering etc.)
Relevant technical background with experience in operations engineering and process management, within a biomass-related position (e.g., biorefining, anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis systems etc), or other relevant areas such as marine, food and agriculture industry and energy industry etc.
Minimum of 2 years experience of participation in industrially-relevant commercial or pilot projects, maintaining and optimizing process parameters like heat, steam and pressure Experience in the maintenance and/or repair of engineering equipment/facilities Experience in capturing, comparing and analysing process and sample data Strong leadership capability Experience of teamworking in a multidisciplinary operational environments Self-motivated and strong ability to work on own initiative will be essential to the role Ability to follow instruction of project PIs and collaborate with other team members is also a requirement Excellent interpersonal, communication, presentation and organizational skills A full drivers license is required in order to access the farm and other relevant sites The following is desirable: Knowledge and experience of biorefinery process systems and extraction of products (e.g., proteins/sugars) from biomass Any experience of grasses or other biomass feedstocks suitable for biorefinery processing as well as logistics Previous engineering experience focused on operations for large scale projects Strong technical background, including track record of technical report preparation is desirable Experience of project management, and demonstrable ability to plan and implement tasks in a timely manner Excellent track record of delivering technical reports and/or publications Salary:Full position at €45,847 - €52,339 per annum.
The post is of 24 months duration and may be extended.
Application Procedure: All applications to be made online.
Location: This post is based within the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CircBio) at Munster Technological University in Tralee however, the normal working place will be located at Farm Zero C at Shinagh Estates Farm in Bandon, Co. Cork.
Travel between these locations for supervision and meetings will be expected from time to time, while occasional national and international visits will be essential for training and to collaborate with project partners and funders Citizenship Requirement:Candidates should note that eligibility to compete for posts is open to citizens of the European Economic Area (EEA) or to non-EEA nationals with a valid work permit.
The EEA consists of the Member States of the European Union, United Kingdom along with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Swiss citizens under EU agreements may also apply.
It is an offence under the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006 for both an employer and an employee if a non-EEA National is in employment without an appropriate employment permit.
Employment permit holders can only work for the employer named on the permit.
Informal Enquiries:Informal enquiries ONLYto James Gaffey Funding: This project has received funding from the European Unions Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking under Grant agreement No.
Closing date for applications is 1.00pm Friday, 21st March 2025 Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.
MTU is an Equal Opportunities Employer Skills: Knowledge and exp of biorefinery process systems experience of project mgt self motivated