PhD position: Resilient carbon dioxide transport route design to enable the net-zero transition in Europe

The Reliability and Risk Engineering Group at ETH Zürich is seeking a Ph.D. student to design carbon dioxide transport routes in Europe to enable a transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The Ph.D. position will focus on the techno-economic assessment and optimization of European carbon dioxide transport networks, focusing on resilient design and risk management. The research output will contribute to achieving European targets of establishing a carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) industry to mitigate hard-to-abate emissions. The Ph.D. position is part of a Horizon Europe project and requires collaboration with international experts on carbon capture and storage, with partners ranging from industrial emitters to technology providers, supply chain operators, and academia.

The Reliability and Risk Engineering group at ETH Zürich, headed by Prof. Dr. Giovanni Sansavini, focuses on the risk and reliability assessment and optimization of distributed energy, power systems, and interdependent systems. The group develops models and methods that quantify and address the risk of cascading failures, the sustainable, safe, and reliable supply of energy, and the resilience of supply chains. Our group has an interdisciplinary profile with a strong application focus in international projects.

Limiting the global average temperature rise to below 1.5°C requires substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero and below. Achieving such steep reductions requires carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to address point-source emissions that are otherwise hard-to-abate, e.g., by reducing emissions from cement production. Further, CCS can contribute to carbon dioxide removal, e.g., in combination with bioenergy production. However, carbon dioxide sources and sinks rarely coincide, requiring large-scale carbon dioxide transport infrastructure.

This project aims to support decision-making in the planning and rollout of the European cross-border carbon dioxide transport infrastructure, contributing to the target of the European Commission to capture and store 30 Mt of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. The large-scale investment decisions required to achieve the European target involve multiple dimensions extending beyond technoeconomics to environmental, social, and reliability criteria.

The interdisciplinary project aims to accelerate the deployment of CCS by demonstrating enabling technologies and providing the means to develop international carbon dioxide networks.

Your work in this project will involve modelling multi-modal CO2 transport and the rollout of European carbon dioxide transport networks. Specifically, you will participate in:

• the techno-economic assessment of regional CCS hubs
• analysis of tradeoffs between costs, sustainability
• risks method development for robust designs of resilient CCS transport networks

In this project, you will develop competencies in techno economic assessments, modelling and mathematical optimization of complex networks, as well as reliability and resilience assessment. Further, you will address current research questions in the dynamic carbon capture and storage field as part of a motivated team of researchers and an international consortium.

We offer you a full-time position for the duration of your Ph.D with a targeted starting date of January 1, 2025. You will be part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers with in-depth experience in modelling and optimizing complex systems, techno-economic analysis, and reliability and resilience assessment. As an integral partof your work, you will publish your results in peer-reviewed journals and present them at international conferences.

• We are looking for a proactive and motivated individual who meets the requirements for a position at ETH Zurich and has a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree from a university in chemical, mechanical, or process, energy science and technology, physics, mathematics, or a comparable subject
• Ideally, you already have strong experience in techno-economic assessment, modeling and optimization, and programming
• You should be highly motivated to learn and apply simulation and optimization techniques and work in a dynamic environment with other doctoral students and postdocs
• The ability to work independently and good communication skills in English (both written and spoken) complete your profile

ETH Zurich is a family-friendly employer with excellent working conditions. You can look forward to an exciting working environment, cultural diversity and attractive offers and benefits.