PhD Studentships - Process Industries: Net Zero – Sewage sludge treatment technology for sustainable resource recovery and contaminants abatement

Award Summary

100% fees (Home & international), a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate), and a research training support grant of £20,000.

Overview

This PhD project is based within the PINZ CDT. The candidate will also work with industrial partner Onunda in aspects of process engineering design features for a scalable prototype facility, industrial installation and commissioning.

In the UK, approximately 53 million tonnes of untreated sludge per annum is processed at 200+ sludge treatment centres. The common treatment of sludge is anaerobic digestion (AD) (73%), followed by lime stabilisation (22%). Sludge treatment is costly, sharing up to 60% of the total running cost of wastewater treatment plants and sludge disposal accounts for up to 50% greenhouse gas emissions of a wastewater treatment plant. It is a collaborative project with our industrial partner Onunda. The aim of the PhD project is to develop an innovative technology for sustainable energy/nutrients recovery and removal persistent pollutants from sludge. The process developed can serve as a stand-alone process or be retrofitted into existing infrastructure of the wastewater industry. In this project, the candidate will focus on (1) mechanistic understanding processes inside a hydrothermal process at subcritical conditions; (2) Understand the effects of operating conditions and designs on products distribution to maximise the recovery of energy/nutrients and contaminant abatement; and (3) Understand hydrodynamics inside hydrothermal reactor for processing sludge to aid design a system, characterisation and testing.

Number Of Awards: 1

Start Date: 17th September 2024

Award Duration: 4 years

Application Closing Date: 8th August 2024

Sponsor: EPSRC

Supervisors

Professor Anh Phan and Professor Tom Curtis: academic supervisors.

Industrial supervisor from Onunda Ltd.

Eligibility Criteria

You must have, or expect to gain, a minimum 2:1 Honours degree or international equivalent in a subject relevant to the proposed PhD project. Due to the nature of this interdisciplinary project, the candidate should have a strong background in Engineering, particularly chemical engineering and environmental aspects (but please get in touch if you think your qualification may be relevant). Experience in simulation, wastewater treatment and process engineering industries are highly desirable. Good organisational and communication skills, and the ability to work independently and in a team are essential.

Home and international applicants (inc. EU) are welcome to apply and if successful will receive a full studentship. Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills. 

For more information about how to apply, please click the 'Apply' button, above.

You must submit one application per studentship, you cannot apply for multiple studentships on one application.

Contact Details

pinz.cdt@newcastle.ac.uk

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