Postdoctoral fellowship – Macroeconomic study about hydrogen for the steelmaking industry

DESCRIPTION

The post-doc researcher will be hosted by the BETA (Bureau d’Economie Théorique et Appliqué) lab, that is the biggest Lab of the North-East of the France with researchers in Economics (and Management) as part of the LUE program and in close cooperation with the IJL (Institut Jean Lamour) lab is a fundamental and applied research laboratory in material science. The LUE (Lorraine University Excellence) program of the Lorraine university is based on new transdisciplinary cooperation, for coordination between research, training and innovation, as well as strong and sustained partnerships with private sector entities and local policy makers. Sustainable development based on renewable energy and hydrogen technologies is one of the main lines of the program.

The expected work consists in conducting a macroeconomic study about hydrogen for the steelmaking industry. Indeed, the development of hydrogen are essentially based on hydrogen for mobility and energy storage. The decarbonization of industry by hydrogen, and in particular the decarbonization of the steel industry, when mentioned, is generally not quantified. However, the probability of a rapid emergence of a Hydrogen economy via the mobility is quite low and the development of other sectors (heating systems with co-gen, industry) is needed. Finally, given the huge amounts involved, this use of hydrogen could change the energy and economic landscape of hydrogen, and this is what we propose to study.

The main stages of the study will be as follows:

• Bibliography on the production of steel with hydrogen from a technical, economic and environmental point of view
• Definition of penetration scenarios (trajectories) for direct hydrogen reduction in the European and world steel industry
• Economic modelling of scenarios
• Environmental assessment of the scenarios by life cycle analysis

This work is in line with previous studies conducted by IJL (lead: F. Patisson) about hydrogen for steelmaking and from BETA about hydrogen economics. The work will be supervised by economists (BETA) and experts of hydrogen from IJL. The study will be also conducted in cooperation of H. Maisonnave from EDEHN.

Keywords: energy transition, hydrogen, industry, steelmaking, macroeconomic models, general equilibrium models (CGE)

TERMS AND TENURE

This two-year position will be based at the BETA, Baron Louis Street, https://g.page/MSHLorraine?share.

20 months is expected. In all cases, the duration can not exceed 24 months.

The target start date for the position is 1^st January 2023, with some flexibility on the exact start date.

HOW TO APPLY 

Applicants are requested to submit the following materials:
• A cover letter applying for the position
• Full CV and list of publications
• Academic transcripts (unofficial versions are fine)

Deadline for application is 30th November, 2022. Applicants will be interviewed by an Ad Hoc Commission by 15^th December, 2022 for an expected start on January or February 2023.

Applications are only accepted through email. All document must be sent to Olivier.Damette@univ-lorraine.fr and Fabrice.Patisson@univ-lorraine.fr