Summer Intern - Metallurgy and Chemistry

Role details

WHO WE ARE Kunin Technologies is revolutionizing the critical mineral supply chain by implementing advanced separation technologies to capture value from overlooked resources. Metals are everywhere, in solar panels, smartphones, electric vehicles, but as ore grades plummet globally, traditional extraction methods are failing. China dominates critical minerals markets by developing superior separation technologies that extract value from materials American mines discard as waste. Utilizing Kunin Technologies' breakthrough mass manufacturable nano-separation systems, significantly more value can be produced from each resource, reducing waste, and unlocking metal abundance.

To achieve metal abundance, humanity must bring separation science down its own Moore’s Law: fix the idiot cost index for micro and nano scale separation materials. This requires mass manufacturing novel ion-exchange media form factors which previously struggled from high costs. THE ROLE Kunin's research team in Chattanooga develops the flowsheets that recover critical metals from dilute and complex feeds, and the chemistry of the ion-exchange media that makes those flowsheets work. Both run on experiments: leach and separation tests on real feeds, and organic synthesis of the functional groups that give the media its selectivity.

You join the research team for the summer on one of two tracks. Metallurgy: flowsheet development, running leach, precipitation and ion-exchange experiments on candidate resources, closing mass balances and recommending process routes. Chemistry: organic synthesis of selective ligands and functional monomers, their attachment to the media, and characterization of the result. By the end of the summer we expect a documented experimental campaign with a flowsheet recommendation or a synthesized and tested functional chemistry that the team takes forward.

RESPONSIBILITIES Plan and run bench experiments: leaching, solvent extraction and ion-exchange tests on your track, or multi-step organic syntheses and media functionalization. Analyze samples by ICP-OES, titration, NMR, FTIR or other techniques as appropriate, and keep complete laboratory records. Build mass balances and flowsheet options from experimental data, or characterize ligand loading and selectivity. Present results weekly to the research team and write a final technical report. Maintain safe handling of acids, oxidants, solvents and air-sensitive reagents.

QUALIFICATIONS AND PREFERRED SKILLS Undergraduate or graduate student in metallurgical engineering, extractive metallurgy, chemistry or chemical engineering, graduating 2027 or 2028. Experimentalist fluent in wet-chemistry laboratory technique; organic synthesis experience (Schlenk technique, purification, NMR interpretation) for the chemistry track. Comfortable with mass balances, speciation and solution chemistry; exposure to hydrometallurgy preferred for the metallurgy track. Careful record keeper; comfortable with spreadsheets and laboratory data systems. Ability to work in fast paced and demanding atmosphere.

Team player who takes ownership of shared equipment and keeps the laboratory safe and organized. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS Position located in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the summer of 2027 (approximately 12 weeks, start date flexible). Extended hours during critical project phases. Strong performers will be considered for a full-time position at Kunin upon graduation. Chattanooga is more beautiful than expected, and Tennessee has no income tax. "The Whole World Is Ion-Exchange And The Rest Are Merely Details!" Dr. Robert Kunin of Rohm and Haas, The Pioneer of the Ion-Exchange Industry, 1951