Back to search results

One Funded PhD Studentship: Selective Recovery of Lithium Ions from Water Using Functionalised Magnetic Colloids

University of Exeter - Department of Earth and Environmental Science

Qualification Type: PhD
Location: Penryn
Funding for: UK Students, EU Students, International Students
Funding amount: From £17,668 annual stipend
Hours: Full Time
Placed On: 16th January 2023
Closes: 2nd March 2023
Reference: 4671

Project Title: Selective recovery of lithium ions from water using functionalised magnetic colloids

The problem:

Our mitigation of the concurrent Climate Emergency is critically dependent upon a massive upscaling in the procurement of battery technology metals, in order to achieve our ambitious plans to electrify vast sectors of industry and society. Within this lithium is widely regarded as a vitally important metal and whilst the geosphere does possess a vast mass of lithium, its procurement does still present major challenges associated with limiting the resultant environmental disturbance and carbon footprint of such activity.

The solution:

There are currently immense quantities of lithium worldwide within aqueous resources, including geothermal waters, mine waters and sea water. The development of new technologies to selectively extract lithium from such matrices could therefore represent a major step forward in diversifying lithium supply chains and also potentially using dramatically lower energy input and with lower environmental disturbance than conventional approaches.

This PhD project will seek to deliver a new technology for the selective recovery of lithium from the aqueous phase. In particular the research will focus on developing a mechanistic understanding of how we can encapsulate magnetic colloids with surface functional groups/minerals in order to enable lithium recovery whilst excluding non-target metals.

The specific aims of project are to:

  1. Collect and characterise lithium bearing waters from a variety of sources.
  2. Determine how we can synthesise, and optimise the application of, next generation functionalised magnetic colloids which are selective for lithium removal from complex aqueous matrices.
  3. Determine what hydrogeochemical conditions are best suited to control and optimise such lithium extraction processes.

This exciting project will benefit from the world-class facilities at the Camborne School of Mines & the Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter and will also comprise fieldwork (lithium-bearing water collection) at industrial sites in the UK.

We value your feedback on the quality of our adverts. If you have a comment to make about the overall quality of this advert, or its categorisation then please send us your feedback
Advert information

Type / Role:

Subject Area(s):

Location(s):

PhD tools
 

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Ok Ok

PhD Alert Created

Job Alert Created

Your PhD alert has been successfully created for this search.

Your job alert has been successfully created for this search.

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Account Verification Missing

In order to create multiple job alerts, you must first verify your email address to complete your account creation

Request verification email Request verification email

jobs.ac.uk Account Required

In order to create multiple alerts, you must create a jobs.ac.uk jobseeker account

Create Account Create Account

Alert Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your account is currently blocked. Please login to unblock your account.

Email Address Blocked

We received a delivery failure message when attempting to send you an email and therefore your email address has been blocked. You will not receive job alerts until your email address is unblocked. To do so, please choose from one of the two options below.

Max Alerts Reached

A maximum of 5 Job Alerts can be created against your account. Please remove an existing alert in order to create this new Job Alert

Manage your job alerts Manage your job alerts

Creation Failed

Unfortunately, your alert was not created at this time. Please try again.

Ok Ok

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

Create PhD Alert

Create Job Alert

When you create this PhD alert we will email you a selection of PhDs matching your criteria.When you create this job alert we will email you a selection of jobs matching your criteria. Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply to this service. Any personal data you provide in setting up this alert is processed in accordance with our Privacy Notice

 
 
 
More PhDs from University of Exeter

Show all PhDs for this organisation …

More PhDs like this
Join in and follow us

Browser Upgrade Recommended

jobs.ac.uk has been optimised for the latest browsers.

For the best user experience, we recommend viewing jobs.ac.uk on one of the following:

Google Chrome Firefox Microsoft Edge