Master Thesis - Material bottlenecks in road and bridge construction: replacement options for fossil bitumen

Your Job:

The aim of this Master`s thesis is to investigate replacement options for fossil bitumen, which is used in particular in road and bridge construction. So far, fossil bitumen has been a very cheap by-product of oil refineries. The role of oil refineries will change significantly as part of the energy transition and, in particular, the transport transition, if they do not disappear completely. In this case, suitable substitutes for bitumen in road and bridge construction, such as concrete, must be identified, compared and evaluated.
The work is divided into the following task packages:

• Familiarization with the material flows, emissions and costs for the production of fossil bitumen and possible substitutes
  
• Identification and selection of possible substitutes for fossil bitumen for further analysis
  
• Research into the reusability and disposal of fossil bitumen and possible substitutes
  
• Modeling of material flows using the example of Germany
  
• Analysis and processing of the results
  

Your Profile:

• Very good performance in your Master`s degree in the fields of energy technology, mechanical engineering, materials science, civil engineering, industrial engineering, physics, resource management or comparable
  
• Basic knowledge of material flow analysis, renewable energy systems or thermodynamics or comparable
  
• Initial experience in optimization or statistics is an advantage
  
• Initial experience of an object-oriented programming language (e.g. Python, Matlab) and MS Office
  
• Analytical and structural thinking
  
• Interest in analyzing the use of resources, energy systems and future technologies
  
• Fluency in written and spoken English or German
  

Our Offer:

We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We support you in your work with:

• A highly motivated working group as well as an international and interdisciplinary working environment in one of the largest research institutions in Europe
  
• Excellent scientific and technical infrastructure
  
• Continuous professional support from your academic supervisor
  
• Flexible home office possible
  
• You will work for one of the ten best employers in Germany in 2022 according to the Glassdoor rating platform
  

The position is initially for a fixed term of 6 months.

In addition to exciting tasks and a collegial working environment, we offer you much more: https://go.fzj.de/Benefits

We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realize their potential is important to us.