Internship: R&D Engineer - Carbon Capture materials testing

We are Skytree

Skytree enables a transition to a world with cleaner Air for everyone. We do this by developing and deploying smart technology that captures atmospheric carbon dioxide, enabling its use or storage to combat climate change and aid society and businesses around the world.

Born out of the European Space Agency (ESA), we are a global team of highly talented scientists, engineers and business professionals, supported by an experienced management team. Our working culture is based on a dynamic and smart approach to business with an open and understanding attitude to others and a desire to expand the boundaries of what is possible.

As we enter a new phase of growth, we’re excited to welcome a driven R&D Engineer Intern to learn, grow, and go on this journey with us!

The project Background : Skytree builds modular and scalable technology for Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO2 to combat climate change. One critical component of it is the sorbent material that captures CO2 from the air and later releases it for storage or use. Part of the Skytree R&D effort is to develop a family of sorbents with optimal characteristics for a range of incoming air conditions - temperature, humidity and purity. To support this effort, the Skytree Sorbent Testing laboratory operates a constantly expanding range of equipment to characterize critical sorbent characteristics, such as CO2 and water loading capacity, capture kinetics, mechanical properties, degradation, and more.

Internship position: you will have an opportunity to work on a wide range of tasks, from basic research and modeling to equipment design to hands-on assembly and testing. Based on your interests and abilities, your work can be split between these three areas:

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Assembly, testing and benchmarking the sorbent lifetime testing equipment: As part of the effort to expand Skytree’s sorbent characterisation capabilities, we have developed a custom set-up for accelerated aging of the sorbent. As an R&D engineering intern you will work alongside R&D team scientists and engineers, supporting them with assembling the set-up, developing control and data analysis software, designing and performing test routines and commissioning the set-up.

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Maintenance and modifications of the R&D Testing Lab equipment: There is a constant backlog of tasks aimed at the maintenance and improvement of the existing sorbent testing equipment. These tasks typically require a wide range of hands-on skills, including gas and liquid line assembly, electrical assembly, data acquisition and analysis, software development and documentation writing.

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Independent research project: Based on your interests and your institution’s requirements, we can design a custom research project for you, supported by our team of physicists, chemists and engineers.

NOTE

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This internship duration is 3-6 months, full-time, 40 hours /week.

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The start date is ASAP.

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This position does not meet the criteria for employer sponsorship therefore, we are unable to support work permit or residency applications.

You’ll make an impact by

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Building novel experimental equipment: assembling the gas supply, vacuum system and electrical components, designing, running and documenting the testing procedures.

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Creating user-friendly control software: the setup will be controlled by a custom-built software (built in DAQFactory SCADA suite). Part of this internship project will be to build the software operating sequences, design the UI and optimize the automation routines.

Learning Objectives

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Gain real-life hands-on experience building hardware and software for a novel experimental set-up. This may include:

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Design and assembly of gas piping and vacuum systems

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Design and assembly of SCADA systems, including sensors, signal processing and SCADA software

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Design and assembly of electrical and automation systems for analytical equipment

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Development of the software for data processing and analysis

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Understand physics, chemistry and engineering behind an emerging field of Carbon Capture through daily interactions with a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers.

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Work as part of a dynamic clean-tech startup that prioritizes scientific and engineering excellence.