Life cycle assessment, technoeconomic assessment and optimization of barley malting in Canada ([...]

The International Society for Industrial Ecology is seeking a candidate for a four-year position focused on life cycle assessment and technoeconomic optimization of barley malting in British Columbia, Canada. The role involves assessing GHG emissions, benchmarking resource use, and evaluating malt processing systems in collaboration with industry partners. Candidates should have interdisciplinary graduate studies in sustainability, with a salary range of CA$60K–CA$80K annually for a full-time schedule.
Life cycle assessment, technoeconomic assessment and optimization of barley malting in Canada (4 years @ $30,000 annually)

Working with malting industry partners (Boortmalt, MakersMalt), the study will assess baseline GHG emissions associated with malt production in Canada, as well as the mitigation potential of efficiency measures and alternative malting strategies. Specifically, the work will benchmark energy and water use, as well as all other relevant inputs/outputs, at each step of the malting process based on current production practices, and evaluate the efficiency of different malt processing systems currently employed or available for commercial malt production. Data will be collected directly from participating facilities at the process level, as well as based on total annual throughput. Where direct data collection is not feasible, process simulation modelling will be used based on equipment/process technical specification data. The models will subsequently be integrated with baseline barley production life cycle inventory models to assess the extent to which adopting modified malt processing protocols could reduce water and energy use as well as life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and other impacts. Technoeconomic assessments will be undertaken, along with optimization modelling to support multi-criteria sustainability decision making in the malting industry.

Minimum Requirements:
• Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies in Sustainability