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Masdar Institute Summer Internship Program to Include Research in Advanced Amine-Based Solvents for Carbon Capture

September 21, 2018

Opportunity for Interns to Evaluate Highly Advanced Technology Relevant to Abu Dhabi’s Long-Term Economic Objectives

Abu Dhabi-UAE: 18 April, 2012 – Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, an independent, research-driven graduate-level university focused on advanced energy and sustainable technologies, today announced it will be offering a research project on amine-based solvents for post-combustion carbon capture as part of its six-week summer internship program.

Named “Development of Advanced Amine-Based Solvents for CO2 Post-Combustion Capture,” the program targets UAE national students from Chemical Engineering or Chemistry with some experience or interest in handling chemicals and laboratory equipment.

Scheduled to begin from 1 July, the summer internship program is offered to the UAE nationals who are university seniors and/or those graduating this year with science, engineering or computer science as major subjects. Students will have to submit their applications by 3 May for this internship program that offers a total of 15 project opportunities this summer.

Research activity in the “Development of Advanced Amine-Based Solvents for CO2 Post-Combustion Capture” will be carried out under the supervision of expert faculty while the interns will be mainly focusing on conducting experiments with state-of-art facilities such as multi-reactor solvent screening set up, vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) and titration facilities.

In the first phase, screening of various amine solvents will be carried out for CO2 absorption, while the second phase will evaluate detailed analysis of promising solvents. The evaluation and selection criteria of promising solvents will involve CO2 loading capacity, estimated enthalpy, and reaction kinetics measurements. ‘Enthalpy’ is a thermodynamic function of a system, equivalent to the sum of the internal energy of the system plus the product of its volume multiplied by the pressure exerted on it by its surroundings.

The research project is focused on the development of advanced chemical sorbents for carbon capture and the major tasks including synthesizing, screening, and evaluating new chemical solvents for CO2 separation from flue gas. Conventional solvent-based technology has serious limitations in large-scale implementations, necessitating the development of efficient carbon capture and storage (CCS) advance processes.

Dr. Mohammad Abu Zahra, Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, Masdar Institute, said: “The research category on post-combustion carbon capture offers UAE national undergraduate students an opportunity to conduct experiments and evaluate the relevance of such highly advanced technology for Abu Dhabi’s economic growth. This is an area Masdar Institute is already conducting research in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We are confident students will find this area of clean technology challenging enough to pursue for their higher studies and we thank the country’s wise leadership for their vision that has ensured such technologies are available to students for research.”

Online applications for the summer internship program can be submitted through the Masdar Institute website which offers adequate details on each project category with a complete description and a list of tasks an intern is expected to do as well as the recommended skills and the formal education required. Only students applying for multiple projects need to submit more than one application. Interns will receive on-campus housing and a stipend, in addition to valuable research and professional experience.

A GPA of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) and an IELTS score of 6.0 (or equivalent) are mandatory for the applicant who also has to submit a letter of recommendation.

Established as an ongoing collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Masdar Institute integrates theory and practice to incubate a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, working to develop the critical thinkers and leaders of tomorrow.  With its world-class faculty and top-tier students, the Institute is committed to finding solutions to the challenges of clean energy and climate change through education and research.