Applications Associate

The candidate will be working with a multi-disciplinary team to develop and scale up a process to produce ethanol from cellulosic biomass. The role of an Applications Associate is to work in the applications lab at the DDCE facility in Vonore, Tennessee to assist in conducting experiments on the DDCE process at the lab, PDU and demonstration plant scales. The work will be focused on the following areas: carrying out experimental designs, assisting in data assembly and analysis, and support of DDCE licensees.

The initial focus of the work will be to conduct experiments to help determine optimized conditions for a corncob or crop residue plant that is targeted to be on line in 2012 / 2013 time frame. The goals of this work stream will be to carry out experiments to define the operating range of the process, prepare samples, assemble the data, and assist in analyzing the data.

Over time the role will have an increased focus on direct support of DDCE licensees—addressing customer needs and carrying out experiments to assist customers to optimize production.

An in-depth understanding of the key process steps for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol are desirable. The work will focus on pretreatment, saccharification and fermentation using DDCE’s current process—alkaline pretreatment using ammonia, high biomass saccharification and conversion of sugars to ethanol using Zymomonas mobilis. Knowledge of other processing alternatives is also desirable.

Key Deliverables:

In conjunction w/ DDCE R&D members assist in carrying out an experimental program to assist in the development of basic data for a corncob or corn residue CE plant.
Carry out experiments to develop kinetic data for the process to enable further development of a kinetic model of the DDCE process.
Carry out experiments to evaluate biomass pretreatment performance.

Summary of essential job functions:

A minimum of a B.S. degree in Chemical or Biochemical Engineering with 2 to 5 years of experience. Understanding and experience with lignocellulosic technologies such as pretreatment, saccharification and fermentation of mixed C5 and C6 streams.

For immediate consideration send your cover letter and resume to resumes@ddce.com.

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