PhD Studentship: Smart Microcapsules for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage

A PhD studentship is available within the Particle Microfluidics Group at the Department of Chemical Engineering of Loughborough University to produce smart microcapsules for CO2 capture and sensing using state-of-the-art microfluidic technology.

Carbon capture and storage is one of the most viable approaches to cut CO2 emissions from the power plants and industrial sectors and mitigate the consequences of global warming and climate change. In this PhD project, you will produce solid microcapsules for CO2 capture to address the drawbacks of traditional amine scrubbing while keeping crucial benefits of liquid absorbents, such as high CO2 capture capacity and high CO2 to N2 selectivity.

Encapsulation of liquid CO2 solvents within solid shells prevents solvent evaporation and leakage while providing much higher surface area-to-volume ratios than typical bubble and packed absorption columns. State-of-the-art microfluidic and polymerisation technologies will be combined to encapsulate various CO2 solvents within gas-permeable polymer shells. The produced microcapsules will change their colour upon saturation with CO2, which is a highly useful feature that can be exploited not just to monitor the level of CO2 saturation but also in CO2 sensing applications.

The successful candidate will use analytical and microscopy techniques (DSC, TGA, FT-IR, SEM, EDX, XRD, TEM) to investigate the physical and chemical properties of the microcapsules and packed bed reactors for CO2 capture testing.

Stipend

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, IT equipment and other support services. University fees and charges can be paid in advance and there are several methods of payment, including online payments and payment by instalment. Fees are reviewed annually and are likely to increase to take into account inflationary pressures.

The AACME Studentship competition offers the chance for UK and International applicants who are interested in undertaking a PhD to have their full-time studies paid for.

Applicants could receive full or partial funding for 3-years, including a tax-free stipend of £17,668 (2022/23 rate) per annum, and/or a tuition fee waiver.

Studentships will be awarded on a competitive basis to applicants who have applied to advertised projects within AACME with the reference ‘AACME-23-XXX’ with the end changing depending on the project number allocated. Successful candidates will be notified by the end of March 2023.

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