PhD Studentship : Ammonia Sprays to Support a Zero-Carbon Future Department

Research Studentship in Ammonia Sprays

3.5-year D.Phil. studentship 

Project: Ammonia sprays to support a zero-carbon future

Supervisor: Prof Felix Leach

Ammonia (NH₃) is a promising zero-carbon fuel for future transportation. Whilst some sectors can be decarbonised using batteries, heavier transport (marine or freight) is less likely to use batteries due to their cost and energy density. Ammonia has among the highest energy densities of any non-hydrocarbon fuel. Ammonia is particularly attractive because it can be made using the well-established Haber-Bosch process and can be 100% renewable when powered by solar and wind. There is a significant lack of fundamental data and models to enable the design of energy conversion systems specific to ammonia.

This project aims to provide the model development to support this design. Taking fundamental data from an EPSRC funded project at Oxford (Ammospray - EP/V04673X/1), this project will evaluate the CFD behaviour of ammonia sprays. There is substantial scope for the student to direct the project, but examples of research questions include whether standard spray-breakup and evaporation models match ammonia sprays well, or are novel models required? Alternatively the ability of the CFD to predict emissions of N₂O NO_x and ammonia from ammonia combustion could be evaluated. Alternatively, life cycle analysis of ammonia energy sources might be a project direction, taking into account both greenhouse gas, local pollutant, and water resource effects.

This project will be in collaboration with industrial partner Convergent Science Inc. Its CONVERGE CFD software is used by companies globally, and the model development undertaken in this project will be coded in its commercial modelling software.

Eligibility

This studentship is funded through the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership and is open to both UK students (full award – fees plus stipend) and EU students (partial award – fees only). Full details of the EPSRC eligibility requirements can be found here.

Award Value

Course fees are covered at the level set for UK students (c. £10,070 p.a.). The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) is at least £19,237p.a. for the first year, and at least this amount for a further two and a half years. 

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• A first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in engineering or a related discipline relevant for the proposed area of research, such as physics, computer science, applied mathematics or chemistry.
• Ability to undertake scientific programming (e.g. in Matlab, Python, Fortran or C/C++)
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills

The following skills are desirable but not essential:

• Interest in or experience of Computational Fluid Dynamics software
• Interest in or experience of sprays
• Interest in net-zero carbon propulsion

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be addressed to Prof Felix Leach (felix.leach@eng.ox.ac.uk).

Candidates must submit a graduate application form and are expected to meet the graduate admissions criteria.  Details are available on the course page of the University website.

Please quote 25ENGTH_FL in all correspondence and in your graduate application.

Application deadline:  noon on 1 December 2024

Start date: October 2025

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