PhD Scholarships - Carbon Footprint Mapping & Modelling

PhD Scholarship - Carbon Footprint Mapping and Modelling 

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, econonomics 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

We are seeking talented students with background in metallurgical engineering, ironmaking and steekmaking, chemical engineering, and associated modelling to work with an industrial project related to carbon dioxide emissions reduction for iron and steel industry.

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 ironmaking 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 environment and society sustainability. This project aims to develop technologies for our industrial partners to capture and convert CO₂ from steel making processes to value-added products. PhD positons are currently available within this project:

Position:  Carbon Footprint Mapping and Modelling

This project mainly involves techno-economic evaluations through full-chain (from sintering/cokemaking, ironmaking, steelmaking to hot rolling) 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 conversion technologies. 

The person

Applicants should possess a Bachelor or Master degree in the relevant fields specified above for each position. Applicants should be team players with a strong professional work ethic, and capacity and interest in acquiring cross-disciplinary expertise. Applicants should have excellent oral and written English language communication skills.

Applicants must be eligible to enrol in a PhD with UQ. For a complete list of the UQ's minimum entry requirements please refer to: https://graduate-school.uq.edu.au/uq-research-degrees.

The University of Queensland values diversity and inclusion. Applications are particularly encouraged from 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 (PPL 4.80.01 UQ Research Scholarships).

Enquiries

To discuss these roles please contact Professor Geoff Wang (gxwang@uq.edu.au)  or Professor Victor Rudolph (v.rudolph@uq.edu.au).

Application Closing Date

12 July 2018, 11:55 PM Australian Eastern Standard Time 

Reference: 504624