PhD Research Studentships
Solutions for Carbon Capture and Storage: Quadrupolar Solvency and Association
| Supervisor: | Radomir SLAVCHOV |
| Apply by: | 15 October 2024 |
| Start in: | January (Semester 2) |
Description
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is hoped to provide a major chunk of humanity's effort to deal with the climate crisis. The cost of equipping large plants (power, ammonia, cement, steel) with facilities for CCS is mainly related to purification of the CO<sub>2</sub> stream to specifications set by corrosion limits for the transport stage. These specifications are currently prohibitively stringent for many businesses and ways to relax them are urgently sought for.
This requires understanding of the corrosion processes that take place upon mixing streams from different plants, containing various levels of H<sub>2</sub>S, SO<sub>x</sub>, NO<sub>x</sub>, water: these impurities interact to form corrosive acids, to phase-separate sulfur etc. The operators of the CCS facilities cannot investigate the vast number of mixing scenarios experimentally and, therefore, reliable modelling tools for the chemistry taking place are needed.
The focus of this PhD scholarship is on the radical chemistry in industrial CO<sub>2</sub> streams, including the association of nitrogen oxides and the rate of the redox reactions that they initialize. The student will investigate the effect of the CO<sub>2</sub> medium on the association equilibria, the radical chain processes that the nitrogen oxides initiate, and the ways to mitigate the formation of corrosive products. This is modelling work. Experience in chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, chemical process engineering, computer algebra and process simulation packages is a plus. The student will regularly communicate with a team of industrial and academic partners.
Funding
Funded by: SEMSEligibility
- The minimum requirement for this studentship opportunity is a good honours degree (minimum 2(i) honours or equivalent) or MSc/MRes in a relevant discipline.
- For 2024-5, the UKRI and Queen Mary stipend rate is £21,237;
- If English is not your first language, you will require a valid English certificate equivalent to IELTS 6.5+ overall with a minimum score of 6.0 in Writing and 5.5 in all sections (Reading, Listening, Speaking).
- Candidates are expected to start in January (Semester 2).
Contact
For informal enquiries about this opportunity, please contact Radomir SLAVCHOV.
Apply
Start an application for this studentship and for entry onto the PhD Chemical Engineering full-time programme (Semester 2 / January start):
Please be sure to quote the reference "SEMS-PHD-598" to associate your application with this studentship opportunity.
| SEMS Research Centre: | ||
| Keywords: | Physical Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Chemical Physics |