PhD Studentship: Reactor Designs for the Sustainable Production of Lignin-Derived End-Products via Depolymerisation Reactions

This exciting opportunity is based within the Advanced Materials Research Group at Faculty of Engineering.

Vision

We are seeking PhD student that is interested in high pressure reactor systems that can be used to produce high value molecules from lignin rich wastewaters that arise from the paper industry.

Motivation 

This project will form part of a wider network of European partners spread across Europe from Universities (Nottingham/Ghent/Maastricht), smaller SMEs (Nova Biochem), Research Institutes (Research Institutes of Sweden) to large industrial manufacturers (UPM-KYMMENE ).

The student will also work alongside a Postdoctoral researcher at Nottingham to design and create small scale supercritical water systems to generate samples that will help optimise a process that will then be scaled into pilot and large scale pilot systems with partners in the consortium.

Aim

This project will focus on modelling and testing of new reactors with a view to optimising the best systems for mixing supercritical water (>378^oC and 221 bar) with wastewater feed streams. This needs to generate residence times that are highly controlled and potentially measured in milliseconds rather than seconds or minutes. This level of control will generate products with minimal side reactions and create the highest possible yields with the minimum environmental impact.

You will work with Professor Ed Lester in Chemical Engineering as well as the 11 other project partners in the SPLENDOR project.

Who we are looking for

An enthusiastic, self-motivated individual with an interest in empirical and modelling work to test out new reactor designs.

This will involve some work with Matlab or similar program to quantify mixing systems that can effectively produce MOFs.

We are looking for a graduate expecting a 1^st or a 2:1 in chemistry or chemical engineering or materials engineering.

Funding support

This is a fully funded studentship for a student with HOME (UK) status.

This would be at a stipend of £20,780 per year

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The Faculty of Engineering provides a thriving working environment for all PGRs creating a strong sense of community across research disciplines. Community and research culture is important to our PGRs and the FoE support this by working closely with our Postgraduate Research Society (PGES) and our PGR Research Group Reps to enhance the research environment for PGRs. PGRs benefit from training through the Researcher Academy’s Training Programme, those based within the Faculty of Engineering have access to bespoke courses developed for Engineering PGRs. including sessions on paper writing, networking and career development after the PhD. The Faculty has outstanding facilities and works in partnership with leading industrial partners. 

Start Date would be 1^st October 2025 for 4 years.

Contact Details for any questions about the studentship edward.lester@nottingham.ac.uk 

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