Senior Hydrometallurgical Engineer

Boulder, CO
Travertine /
On-site
About Travertine
Travertine is a Climate Tech start-up based in Boulder, CO that is rapidly scaling an electrochemical technology for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and sustainable critical element extraction. Our process takes carbon dioxide from the air and sources of waste sulfate to produce carbonate minerals, sulfuric acid, and hydrogen. The sulfuric acid is used in extraction of critical elements like lithium and nickel for EV batteries and phosphorus for fertilizer. The Travertine Process was developed by Prof. Laura Lammers at her UC Berkeley lab. Travertine was founded in 2022 to scale this process to gigatons per year of CDR. 

In 2022, we raised a seed round from the Grantham Foundation and Clean Energy Ventures, we were one of the first companies to receive pre-purchases of CDR from the new Stripe-led $1B Frontier fund, and we received a $2M grant from the DOE’s ARPA-E program. We were named C&EN 10 startups to watch in 2022, a Bloomberg NEF Pioneer in 2023, and are part of the RMI Third Derivative 1st Gigaton Captured program.  We believe in developing practical approaches to solving the climate crisis. 

Key Responsibilities

    • Lead R&D experiments that contribute to process design and optimization, including experimental design, scheduling, execution, and mass balances.
    • Compile, analyze, and report data from benchtop and pilot plant experiments.
    • Design, select, and/or construct laboratory and pilot equipment.
    • Troubleshoot performance issues in lab and pilot experiments.
    • Assist with development of process flow diagrams, mass balances, and process design criteria.
    • Manage one or more laboratory technicians. Train personnel as necessary in laboratory procedures and data analysis.
    • Maintain a safe, clean, productive laboratory environment.

Required Qualifications

    • Bachelor's degree in engineering (chemical, materials, metallurgical) or equivalent experience
    • 7+ years experience in hydrometallurgical laboratory and plant operations
    • Proven skills in hydrometallurgical experiment design, data acquisition and validation, mass balance development, and translation of laboratory results to process design
    • Experience in chemical and physical analytical techniques (wet chemistry, spectroscopy, mineralogical characterization)
    • Experience reading and writing process flow diagrams (PFDs) and piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs)

Bonus Qualifications

    • 2+ years of experience in the mining industry or chemical process industry
    • Applied hydrometallurgical process design experience
    • Process simulation expertise
    • Translation of process design from pilot to commercial scale

Benefits

    • Stock options
    • Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance
    • 401k with 3% match
    • Flexible time off policy
$110,000 - $150,000 a year
Range provided is for reference, compensation will be based on experience and qualifications.