PhD Studentship: Technologies for Decarbonisation of Industrial Cooking of Food While Maintaining Quality Characteristics

Funding for: UK Students

Funding amount: £21,237 (inclusive of London Weighting) x 4 (subject to UKRI increase each year)

Award duration: 4 years

Start Date: Earliest start date, 1 April 2025. Latest start date 1 October 2025 

Food processing currently relies heavily on the combustion of natural gas to provide process and space heating. Until recently, natural gas was considered the preferred fuel for heating due its lower unit cost and greenhouse gas emissions compared to alternative fossil fuels and electricity. Emissions from the combustion of natural gas, however, are fixed, and gas, unlike electricity cannot benefit from the use of renewable energy sources and nuclear power for decarbonisation. 

To meet the net zero target by 2050 it is therefore imperative that the use of natural gas is phased out in the next 10-15 years. This places significant challenges on the food manufacturing industry which include changes to processing technologies to accommodate decarbonised energy vectors, the need to make informed decisions on the adoption of new technologies, and significant capital investment.   

To address this challenge, we are seeking to recruit a highly motivated and enthusiastic doctoral researcher to undertake investigations on a range of emerging electrified technologies, energy recovery technologies and alternative gas burning fuels such as Green Hydrogen for the decarbonisation of industrial cooking. 

The project will be based within the Centre for Sustainable Energy Use in Food Chains (CSEF) which has substantial expertise and experimental and computational facilities to support the research. 

Candidate Requirements: 

Candidates are expected to hold, or about to obtain, at a minimum, one of the following:  upper second-class Honours degree (or equivalent) in Chemical or process engineering, food engineering, mechanical engineering, or related discipline. Good team working, observational and communication skills are essential with the ability to work independently and as a member of a research team. Good knowledge and experience in heat and mass transfer is essential and proficiency in the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics will be considered an advantage.

The student will benefit from being part of the BBSRC Food Consortium CTP. Further information on the CTP can be found at: https://www.campdenbri.co.uk/research/consortium/food-consortium.php

How to Apply

Informal inquiries are encouraged and can be made to:

Professor Savvas Tassou: savvas.tasou@brunel.ac.uk

To apply, e-mail your CV and personal statement (maximum one page A4) to Prof. Tassou via the above ‘Apply’ button.

Closes on: 31 March 2025

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