Post-doctoral position : Multi-scale characterization of the porosity of pretreated lignocellulosic biomass

Context

The architecture of biomass is highly complex and variable across species, and can be defined as a

continuum of spatial scales ranging from molecules to particles, polymers, nano-structures,

assemblies, cells and tissues. These scales are highly interconnected and reflect not only the

chemical and structural properties of biomass, but above all its reactivity to transformation

processes such as chemical, physical, mechanical or biological reactions.

The mission is part of the FillingGaps project funded by the French National Research Agency

(ANR) through the Biomass, Biotechnologies, Technologies for Green Chemistry and Renewable

Energies (B-BEST) program and priority research equipment (PEPR) co-piloted by IFPEN and

INRAE. The aim is to develop multi-scale approaches, for representative biomass species, in order

to establish relationships between scales with a view to highlighting markers of biomass

properties and reactivity. This will require the application and development of high-level

characterization tools that will provide information at complementary scales. The proposed

strategy will also lead to the development of new methods for coupling scales and integrating

information, ultimately proposing virtual models of biomass reactivity.

Post-doctoral researcher's mission

As part of the FillingGaps project involving the IFPEN (Physics and Analysis Division) and FARE

(Fractionation of AgroResources and Environment) laboratories, your mission will be to

characterize the porosity at different spatial scales of biomass samples from several origins before

and after pretreatment. Indeed, the porosity of lignocellulosic biomass is a critical parameter for

its biochemical transformation, since it determines the diffusion of enzymes before their

adsorption on cellulose and conversion into glucose.

You will have access to a wide range of equipment and characterization techniques, including

nitrogen physisorption, mercury porosimetry, water sorption (DVS), X-ray microtomography,

small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), FPG-NMR and confocal fluorescence microscopy (FRAP).

Protocols have already been established for most of these characterization techniques, but

further fine-tuning is required in terms of sample preparation to guarantee the repeatability and

quality of the data acquired. Data of various kinds will also have to be processed using statistical

approaches, analytical or morphological models.

All the data produced will be used to feed a predictive model of biomass reactivity developed

jointly with other project partners.