Organisation / Company University of Granada Department Chemical Engineering Laboratory RNM

- 152 Is the Hosting related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No MSCA-PF: Joint application at the University of Granada.

Department of Chemical Engineering.

Professor Guillermo García García, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidatesinterested inapplying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF)in 2026 at this University.

Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (for more information about the 2026 call, please consult this link ).

Brief description of the institution: The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. With more than 57,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and almost 7,000 members of staff, the UGR offers 97 undergraduate degrees, 157 master’s degrees (7 of which are double degrees) and 28 doctoral programmes via its 124 departments and nearly 50 centres.

Accordingly, the UGR offers one of the most extensive and diverse ranges of higher education programmes in Spain.

The UGR has been awarded with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research (HRS4R)", which reflectsthe institution’s commitment to continuously improve its human resource policies in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The UGR is also internationally renowned for its excellence in diverse research fields and ranked among the top Spanish universities in a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D; projects, fellowships awarded, publications, and international funding.

The UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking

- Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

The 2025 edition of the ARWU places the UGR in 301-400th position in the world and as the 3-8 highest ranked University in Spain, reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research.

From the perspective of specialist areas in the ARWU rankings, the UGR is outstanding in Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence and Dentistry & Oral Sciences (ranked between 51th-75th position), Computer Science & Engineering,



Education and Hospitality & Tourism Management (between 76-100th position), and in the areas of Food Science & Technology and Business Administration (between 101-150th position).

A little lower in the ranking, the UGR also stands out in the areas of Earth Sciences, Law, Management, Nursing, Psychology and Statistics, in which the UGR is positioned in the 151-200th position.
Internationally, the University of Granada is firmly committed to its participation in the calls of the Framework Programme of the European Union.

For the duration of the prevoius Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, the UGR obtained a totalof124 projectswith a total funding of more than€30 million. For the current Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, the UGR has obtained136 projects, so far, with a total funding of more than€38 million.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group: This research group was established in 1988.

Until 2000, its research has been focused on the treatment of solids, flotation, and solid-liquid-gas interphase studies.
Later on, the group incorporated a new research line in the removal and recovery of heavy metals by biosorption, mainly using agricultural waste as sorbent materials which are abundant, renewable and can be obtained very economically.
This research line has made the group an important research group globally.
Recently, the group has evolved into a multi-disciplinary research group, working on sustainable energy and waste management projects.

The group has a special interest in the valorisation of plastic solid waste and waste biomass to sustainably generate useful chemicals or biofuels via a biorefinery approach.

Main research lines of the group:

- Valorisation of solid waste: o Valorisation of plastic solid waste by mechanical and thermochemical methods.

o Thermochemical processing of biomass for the production of biofuels.
o Waste management in the agri-food sector.




o Leaching and recovery of metals and other valuable materials from solid waste (especially industrial, electric/electronic and mine solid waste).

- Removal and recovery of heavy metals by biosorption.
- Treatment technologies for industrial wastewater based on biosorption.
- Flotation and alternative methods of solids concentration.
- Sustainability and environmental impact assessments.

The group provides laboratory and semipilot-scale torrefaction, gasification and pyrolysis equipment, as well as analytical equipment.

This project will explore the use of food waste to obtain valuable compounds and bioenergy.
In particular, extractive technologies will be used to obtain high value-added compounds of potential commercial interest.
The remaining waste will be sent for energy conversion, which will help to reduce external dependence on fossil resources, while providing an economic benefit at a subsidised rate or, preferably, the reduction of external energy inputs.
The overall objective will be to propose alternative innovative processes that improve the sustainability of food waste management.
The extraction processes will be based on hydrothermal treatments at low temperatures to achieve low energy use.
Next, the main technology to be explored and trialled will be a continuous two-stage reaction process based on pyrolysis and an innovative light-assisted gas steam reforming process to optimise hydrogen production.
Applications of the remaining solid char, such as use as an adsorbent, will also be explored.
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) will be used to calculate the environmental impacts of the proposed processes and ensure that the proposed alternative is environmentally better than current disposal methods.
LCA is a widely used methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all life-cycle stages of a product or material.
LCA will be used to identify opportunities for pollution prevention and to improve the efficiency of industrial practices.

Finally, a techno-economic assessment will also be carried out to make sure that the processes proposed can be scaled up industrially and that they can provide economic benefits.

Research Area:

- Chemistry (CHE)
- Environment and Geosciences (ENV) #J-18808-Ljbffr

📌 MSCA-PF: Joint application at the University of Granada. Department of Chemical Engineering.
🏢 International Research Projects Office
📍 Granada