Recycling makes environmental and economic sense. And as an emerging industry it is a great career choice for anyone who’s looking optimistically to the future.
Recycling Technologies are offering to sponsor student fees and maintenance for a PhD project within the prestigious School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham. The deadline for this position is 30 April 2013.
PROGRAMME SUMMARY
Supervisor: Dr Gary Leeke
Dept / School / Faculty: School of Chemical Engineering | University of Birmingham
Project Title: Development of Fuels from Mixed Plastic Waste [MPW]
Apply Now: Click here for details on how to apply
Further information: Click here to visit the University of Birmingham page.
Funding Availability: Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide) This research project is funded by Recycling Technologies Ltd. Applications for this project are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide. Funding may only be available to a limited set of nationalities and you should read the full department and project details for further information.
Application Deadline: 30 April 2013
The School of Chemical Engineering is one of the leading Schools in the country and a recent recipient of a Queens Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in recognition of its pioneering research and outstanding track record in collaborative research and training within the UK.
With millions of tonnes of MPW still landfilled around the world the ability to take unsorted plastic waste and turn it into a fuel that can power an IC engine would be a significant breakthrough for science.
Deconstructing individual plastics via pyrolysis into a predictable form that that can be used as a fuel is relatively well understood. When the plastic is mixed and contaminated as is the case with post-consumer waste during the pyrolysis there is potential for a significant number of reactions to take place making the outputs difficult to predict.
This programme aims to understand what happens during the pyrolysis of such waste and how this process can be controlled such that a consistent power output can be obtained from an engine fuelled by the products of this pyrolysis.
The PhD project is funded by Recycling Technologies Ltd. and includes student fees and maintenance.
POTENTIAL RESEARCH PROGRAMME
- Use a purpose built pyrolyser and TGA-MS to investigate the effect of process parameters on output chemistry for a range of individual and mixed plastic waste streams.
- Produce larger quantities of the fuels using the purpose built pyrolyser.
- Determine the efficacy of a hot gas filtration system in removing contamination and assess ways of improving the filtration where necessary
- Test the fuels produced by the pyrolyser rig in a test bed engine and analyse the combustion cycle for the fuels produced d to determine variations in engine performance.
- Examine the potential to produce acceptable quality fuel across a wide spectrum of input waste by varying the conditions in the pyrolyser. Opportunity for additives to improve fuel quality should be considered
Funding Notes
If you are interested in this PhD please send your CV to Dr Gary Leeke through the university page (click here). Students should have at least a 2i Hons degree or equivalent in an engineering or physical sciences topic.