Ida is upscaling our innovations
Classical chemical engineering meets development work to produce recycling solutions for important nutrients. Ida Blomgren is a process engineer with the job of scaling-up EasyMining's innovations from feasibility projects to industrial processes and full-scale production. "Working on something that you believe in and which will improve society is highly motivating," Ida says.
18 May 2020When Ida Blomgren graduated as a chemical engineer in June 2019, after five years' studying at Chalmers in Gothenburg, she went directly to EasyMining to work as a process engineer.
– Here in Gothenburg there are a lot of jobs within classical chemical engineering, but I felt that I wanted to do something that was fully sustainable. Even before I started to study I was interested in the environment and sustainability, and during the programme I took courses targeted at paper mills and their conversion.
– I found the job at EasyMining by chance and it felt absolutely right. Partly because what we do is beneficial, in relation to the circular economy and recycling for example, but also because it is a new company that is engaged in new processes where it is possible to be involved from the outset, Ida says.
Work principally with phosphorus recycling
She is based at EasyMining's engineering office in Gothenburg, where she works on scaling-up the processes which are developed at the company's research laboratory in Uppsala.
– I work principally with Ash2Phos and recycling of phosphorus, the process where we have advanced furthest. We work with the process that they designed in Uppsala and transfer it to a large, industrial scale, and I calculate everything from mass balances, pumps and heat exchangers to being involved in selecting and designing the equipment we will use.
– It is classical chemical engineering along with a lot of development work, which makes it enjoyable and varied. It is also highly motivating to work on something in which you believe and which will improve society.
Making a difference for the circular economy
Ida finds it stimulating to work on processes that will make a difference in the transition to a circular economy.
– In the future systems will be established to recycle nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which is what we are working on now. But we will hopefully also be working on producing recycling solutions for other substances. That's why I really like working in an innovation company - it is exciting and there are constantly new problems to solve.