PhD opportunities at the Energy Institute

About the Project
It is essential to decarbonise carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels to achieve the carbon neutrality of the Paris Climate Change agreement. One key application of Carbon Capture and Storage technologies is the removal of carbon dioxide from industrial and combustion gases before they enter the atmosphere.

The project aims to design and optimise a novel concept for contacting combustion gases with amine solvents used for CO2 capture in combined cycle gas turbines. It uses a first of a kind prototype system to obtain experimental data and combines the data with process modelling to obtain the first optimised configuration.

The project has three objectives:

1. Generate data on the pressure drop, hydrodynamics and mass transfer of novel packing geometries used for contacting industrial gases with CO2 capture solvents.

2. Characterise the operation of the prototype contactor for a range of CO2 capture solvent physical properties, such as density, viscosity and surface tension.

3. Develop engineering guidelines for process optimisation and scale-up with an open-access solvent supported by new packing data from this project.

The output of the project will inform commercial decisions by the industrial partner to decarbonise offshore platforms. It will also explore configurations for other applications related to CO2 capture.

Supervisors: Professor Mathieu Lucquiaud, Dr Abby Samson, Professor Jon Gibbins, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield

Industrial supervisors: Alexandre Pactat, Veronique Pugnet, Total Energies Research & Development

The research environment

The research work will be based in the Energy Research Group within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) at Sheffield which is a brand new, high profile, innovation focused national research facility. You will be working within an exciting and dynamic group with approximately over 60 researchers undertaking a broad area of energy research with approximately three years' extensive research time in industry, preparing for high-level careers in the energy sector. 

The project will be part of the EPSRC-supported Centre for Doctoral Training in Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems. The student who undertakes it will be one of a cohort of over 50 students in a broad range of disciplines across the Universities of Sheffield, Nottingham and Cardiff.  

Funding

The studentship will cover full university fees and a tax-free, enhanced annual stipend for four years. The stipend rate for the academic year 2023/24 from the EPSRC is £18,622. This stipend will rise with inflation each academic year. In addition, students receive a stipend enhancement of £3,750 per year.

Start date

We are seeking applicants to start in September 2023 but could accept a starting date no later than February 2024 for the right applicant.

The applicant

Applications are welcome from graduates with a mechanical or chemical engineering background. Other relevant STEM or engineering background will be considered.

The studentship is open to UK candidates only, due to restrictions from the EPSRC.

Please apply via: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying

Informal enquiries may be sent to Professor Mathieu Lucquiaud (m.lucquiaud@sheffield.ac.uk). Please note that applications sent directly to this email address will not be accepted.

Supervisory Team:   

Dr Merve Keskin and Dr Erica Ballantyne, Sheffield University Management School; Prof. David Stone, Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering.

Project Description:

Applications are invited for a fully-funded ‘home’ PhD studentship to work on the project entitled “Investigation into Energy-Efficient Last-Mile Delivery Operations with Autonomous Electric Vehicles”.

The aim of the project is to examine the efficient usage of autonomous electric delivery vehicles, for example robot delivery vehicles, and the design of their support network infrastructure and routing, to allow them to operate as seamlessly and energy efficiently as possible.

With the increase in global greenhouse gas emissions and their subsequent effect on the climate, there is an urgent need to decarbonise. It is now seen as advantageous to rapidly electrify the transport sector; this being driven by recognition that this sector is now the largest single source of carbon emissions in the UK. Additionally, commercial vehicle operations make up a significant proportion of the overall sector emissions and with the city centres becoming increasingly crowded, autonomous zero-emission vehicles can provide a safe delivery alternative to traditional delivery vans, thus helping to reduce urban congestion, and aid decarbonisation of transport systems.

Including two areas of expertise, last-mile logistics and freight transport operations and their optimisation, together with electric vehicle / battery technology and energy modelling, this interdisciplinary project aims at exploring different aspects of efficient utilisation of multiple small electric delivery vehicles as an alternative to large diesel-powered vehicles. The project will include addressing the following problems:

Dr Merve Keskin m.keskin@sheffield.ac.uk or Dr Erica Ballantyne e.e.ballantyne@sheffield.ac.uk

This studentship therefore covers a number of aspects of energy use, charging and routing of autonomous delivery vehicles to holistically optimise delivery operations.

The successful PhD candidate will be required to undertake a detailed literature review of existing models, with a view to understanding and further developing novel models which may be experimentally verified as required using a dataset which will be constructed by the candidate.

The chosen candidate is also expected to prepare and present conference papers, followed by at least one journal article to disseminate the research.

Entry Requirements:

A very good undergraduate degree with a UK 1st Class honours degree (minimum 2:1), or its international equivalent.

Optimisation and/or mathematical or general engineering background (desirable)

Closing Date: 31 July 2023

PhD Start date: October 2023

Applications:

Online at: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd/apply/applying

Please apply for the Sheffield University Management School, enter Dr Merve Keskin under the Primary Supervisor to ensure the application is processed correctly.

Applications should include:

• Cover Letter to demonstrate the motivation to undertake research on this project
• Curriculum Vitae
• Two reference letters / names
• Degree Transcripts to date

For further information or informal enquiries please contact:

Dr Merve Keskin m.keskin@sheffield.ac.uk or Dr Erica Ballantyne e.e.ballantyne@sheffield.ac.uk

More information 

About the project
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) consists of a series of climate change mitigation technologies. It is essential to achieve the carbon neutrality of the Paris Climate Change agreement (Find out more here)

It is a key technology of the UK government Clean Growth Strategy with an ambitious programme consisting of establishing low-carbon industrial clusters aiming to capture 20-30 Million tonnes of CO 2 per year by 2030. It is supported by a first phase of eight commercial scale projects across multiple industrial sectors aiming to start operation before 2030.

One key application of Carbon Capture and Storage technologies is the removal of carbon dioxide from industrial and combustion gases before they enter the atmosphere, e.g. from combined cycle gas turbine power plants, energy from waste plants and industrial facilities in cement, steel, chemical, glass, paper and ceramic.

This 4-year experimental EngD project focuses on existing and emerging instrumentation techniques for the monitoring of CO2 capture solvent technologies. It is industrially relevant and is at the forefront of commercial deployment.

Long term testing of solvents is now part of the guidance by the UK Environmental Agencies for the permitting of new post-combustion CO2 capture facilities.

The project is experimental and uses a laboratory test rig operated at industrially representative process conditions over a long period of testing, supported with data and samples provided by UK commercial projects.

The test rig is built to address a knowledge and capacity gap in the long-term testing of solvent management techniques, such as online monitoring of solvent degradation, effective reclaiming of used solvents and the control of atmospheric emissions. It uses open-access solvent technology to allow for publication of the results in the public domain, with transferrable learnings applicable to commercial, proprietary solvents.

The industrial sponsor is SSE Thermal, who owns and operates combined cycle gas turbine power plants in the UK. A 3-month secondment to SSE will take place in the 2nd year of the project to increase industrial relevance, knowledge transfer and establish further collaboration opportunities.

Expected Outcomes:

• Improved monitoring of solvent, process performance, and atmospheric emissions.
• Optimised solvent monitoring strategies, leading to more efficient and environmentally sustainable CCS operations.
• Advance knowledge and understanding of relevant instrumentation techniques to support the permitting of new post-combustion CO2 capture facilities.

Supervisors: Prof Mathieu Lucquiaud, Dr Abby Samson, Prof Jon Gibbins, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield

Industrial supervisors: Dr Xiaomian Baxter, Daniel Mullen, SSE Thermal

The research environment

The research work will be based in the Energy Research Group within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) at Sheffield which is a brand new, high profile, innovation focused national research facility. You will be working within an exciting and dynamic group with approximately over 60 researchers undertaking a broad area of energy research with approximately three years' extensive research time in industry, preparing for high-level careers in the energy sector. 

The project will be part of the EPSRC-supported Centre for Doctoral Training in Resilient Decarbonised Fuel Energy Systems. The student who undertakes it will be one of a cohort of over 50 students in a broad range of disciplines across the Universities of Sheffield, Nottingham and Cardiff.  

Start date

We are seeking applicants to start in September 2023 but could accept a starting date no later than February 2024 for the right applicant.

The applicant

Applications are welcome from graduates with chemical engineering or chemistry background. Other relevant STEM or engineering background or industrial experience will be considered, if relevant.

Please send enquiries to Professor Mathieu Lucquiaud (m.lucquiaud@sheffield.ac.uk)

Funding Notes
The studentship will cover full university fees and a tax-free, enhanced annual stipend for four years. The stipend rate for the academic year 2023/24 from the EPSRC is £18,622. This stipend will rise with inflation each academic year. In addition, students receive a stipend enhancement of £3,750 per year.

The studentship is open to UK candidates only, due to restrictions from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council.

More information

HVAC accounts for 60-70% of all end user energy in buildings. Despite advanced in solar/thermal technologies there has been no real reduction in consumption across the sector. Multiple factors influence the demand and deployment to maintain thermal comfort and meet regulatory requirements.

This project will capitalise on the emergence of AI tools to develop a novel control system based on user requirements to optimise and regulate the usage of HVAC across a range of commercial buildings.

The project will use desk based modelling across range of current live projects with the opportunity to design and test in physical buildings to validate the work whilst adding a valuable contribution to the existing research outputs and team.

The successful candidate will develop, apply and validate AI-based models (based on machine learning, agent-based, etc) primarily to:

i. predict energy demand in multi-energy systems (airflow, electricity, heat)

ii. dynamically manage building systems to maintain thermal comfort

iii. discovery & optimize new designs of future Building Management Systems (BMS).

This PhD project will cooperate with national and international projects and you will contribute to develop real-life multi-energy energy systems by applying, training and validating models to systems in the UK and Africa.

Requirements:

Applicants should have a first-class degree or good 2:1 (or equivalent) in Energy Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science or a related field, ideally with prior experience in building energy systems. The ideal applicant should possess relevant analytical skills, proficiency in programming, and proficiency in modelling in high-level programming environment (e.g. Python, Matlab, Ansys CFD etc).

Deadline:

The position will be filled as soon as a suitable person has been found; hence you are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. PhD Starting September 2024 or soon after.

Supervision Team & Further Info:

Supervisors: Prof. Ben Hughes; School of Mechanical Engineering and the Energy Institute

For enquires and to apply please contact Prof Ben Hughes at Ben.Hughes@sheffied.ac.uk and attach your CV

Funding Notes

A fully funded 3.5-year studentship inclusive of stipend and tuition fees for students eligible for Home fees. Overseas candidates will be considered for the position, nonetheless they should be able to cover the tuition fee difference. Supervisors remain available for online meeting to discuss further details. Offer also include access to state-of-the-art facilities and funding for travelling and engagement activities.