4x PhD Opportunities - School of Chemical Engineering
- Employer
- Global Academy Jobs
- Location
- Australia
- Closing date
- Oct 2, 2017
View more
- Sector
- Science, Physical Sciences and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biochemistry
- Hours
- Full Time
- Organization Type
- University and College
- Jobseeker Type
- Academic (e.g. 'Lecturer')
Job Details
The School of Chemical Engineering
The School of Chemical Engineering is an international leader in the chemical engineering field and has an excellent international reputation which has been built over four decades at the University. With 35 academic staff, including 17 professors, the School provides quality programs and leadership in chemical engineering education, research and development, and expert consulting to support the process industries. In addition to core technical areas, research is undertaken on a range of interdisciplinary problems, in collaboration with science, business, economics and other disciplines. Information about the Faculty and the School may be accessed on the Faculty's web site at http://www.uq.edu.au/eait.
The role
Carbon dioxide (CO2) becomes increasingly notorious as a cause of global warming. As the primary greenhouse emissions from human activities, carbon dioxide are majorly emitted from fossil fuels combustion for energy. The iron and steel industry is the key sector providing a fundamental material to society, but is also the largest energy consuming manufacturing sector. The iron making process is the most CO2 emissions intensive part for steel production. In 2010, about 2,500 million tons of CO2 in total (over 5% of the total CO2 emission) were emitted from steel production, and this value is projected to grow by 2050 to a level of 2,800 million tonnes. On average, around 2 tonnes of CO2 will be emitted to the atmosphere to produce one tonne of steel through blast furnace route, which is the most common steel making process and accounts for nearly 70% of steel produced worldwide. Therefore, mitigating CO2 emission levels especially from iron and steel industry is critical to alleviate greenhouse impacts on our environment and society sustainability. This project aims to develop technologies for our industrial partners to capture and electrochemically convert CO2 from steel making processes to product with high commercial value. Four PhD positions are currently available within this project:
Position 1: Electrocatalyst Development for CO2 conversion
This role is mainly focused on material syntheses, catalysts screening and development, electrochemical performance and stability evaluations, and material characterisations cathode to deliver fundamental insights and suitable catalyst candidates for CO2 electrochemical conversion applications.
Position 2: Electrode Structure Design and Transport Phenomena Study
This role will mainly evaluate and investigate various factors such as electrolyte mass transfer and electrode structures on the performance and stability CO2 electrochemical conversion applications through experiment and simulations, and provide strategies to design optimal electrode for large-scale CO2 electrochemical conversion.
Position 3: Reactor Design and Process Optimisation
This role is majorly responsible for flow-temperature-kinetics computational modelling aspects to inform scale-up design and processes optimisation.
Position 4: Carbon Footprint Mapping and Modelling
This project mainly involves techno-economic evaluations through process modelling and simulations as well as financial analysis to map carbon footprint of the industrial processes, evaluate energy efficiencies, and review the technical and economical feasibilities of integrating CO2 electrochemical conversion technologies.
The person
We are seeking talented students with background in material science, chemistry, electrochemistry, modelling or engineering to work with an industrial project related to carbon dioxide emissions reduction for iron and steel manufacturing industry.
Applicants must have excellent critical thinking skills and very good written and spoken communication are required, and you must be able to analyse and synthesize information from across a range of disciplines.
Applicants must fulfill the PhD admission criteria for the University of Queensland, and demonstrate excellent capacity and potential for research.
The University of Queensland values diversity and inclusion and offers flexible working arrangements. Applications are particularly encouraged from women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Remuneration
Prospective students will be provided with assistance to apply for a competitive UQ scholarship, or a domestic equivalent scholarship, for stipend and tuition support https://graduate-school.uq.edu.au/scholarships. Award of a scholarship will be conditional upon the applicant applying for and obtaining an unconditional offer for entry to the PhD program at UQ and being assessed in the next available UQ scholarship round. The duration of the candidacy is 3 years with 2 possible extensions each for up to 6 months.
Enquiries
To discuss these roles please contact Professor Geoff Wang (gxwang@uq.edu.au) or Professor Victor Rudolph (v.rudolph@uq.edu.au).
To submit an application for this role, use the Apply button below. All applicants must supply the following documents
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Cover letter, please indicate which project you are applying for;
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CV, including a list of published works and contact details of two referees;
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an academic transcript;
Reference: 500912
Company
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