Postdoctoral Position in Process & Energy Systems Modeling in Zürich

Postdoctoral Position in Process & Energy Systems Modeling

The Geothermal Energy & Geofluids (GEG) Group is a renowned research unit in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at ETH Zurich in Switzerland investigating subsurface mass and energy transfer processes alongside thermal-fluid energy conversion and process plant systems. We conduct fundamental and applied research addressing societal challenges related to geothermal energy exploration, extraction, and utilization, geologic CO₂ sequestration, subsurface energy and fluid storage, direct lithium extraction from brines, and coupled surface-subsurface systems.

Project background

We are seeking a Process & Energy Systems Modeling Engineer/Scientist to strengthen our group as a Postdoc in physics-based numerical modeling, software development, and engineering analysis of engineered energy and fluid systems, ranging from geothermal power plants to fluid (e.g., water, brine, CO2, H2, hydrocarbons) and mineral (e.g., lithium) processing facilities.

A core focus of this position is the co-development of an open-source power plant and wellbore flow simulator natively integrated into TANGO, our platform for techno-economic analysis of a wide range of geoenergy systems, and capable of standalone simulation. Functioning as the engineering counterpart to our geothermal reservoir simulator (RAFT), you will advance this tool, couple it to RAFT and other TANGO modules, and conduct techno-economic assessments across geothermal direct heat and power plants, district heating systems, CO₂ utilization and sequestration, direct lithium extraction, and natural hydrogen systems.

This unique hybrid role spans the entire development chain: translating physical thermal-fluid problems into mathematical models, implementing them into robust engineering and scientific software tools, simulating complex engineering systems, and conducting techno-economic evaluations. The position complements our existing scientific software team by bringing dedicated expertise in power plant engineering, process technology, thermal-fluid system design, and techno-economic optimization.

• Physics-Based Modeling & Tool Development: Formulate, implement, and maintain numerical models and custom scientific modeling software for energy and process components, such as heat exchangers, expanders, turbines, pumps, compressors, separators, condensers, piping networks, and wellbores
• System Simulation & Optimization: Simulate, optimize, and analyze integrated energy conversion systems, including geothermal power plants, binary/Organic Rankine Cycles (ORC), flash steam systems, thermal utilization networks, CO₂ compression/injection facilities, and process streams
• Techno-Economic Assessment: Integrate physical process models with economic calculations to evaluate project viability, estimating Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH), Levelized Cost of Lithium (LCOL), equipment cost estimation (cost correlations, cost-index scaling, CAPEX/OPEX), net present value (NPV), and sensitivity analyses
• Coupled Surface-Subsurface Engineering: Develop and apply computational models for coupled surface-subsurface fluid flow, heat transfer, and pressure/temperature evolution across surface facilities and wells
• Scientific Software Implementation: Write clean, modular, and reusable scientific code (primarily in Python) following modern development practices, including version control (Git), automated testing, code style/linting, and clear technical documentation

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