PhD Studentship: Nitrogen Behaviour in EAF Steelmaking

Stipend: Standard UKRI stipend for 3.5 years

Eligibly: Available to Home fee status

Start Date: October 2026

Project Overview

An enthusiastic individual is being invited to join a team of researchers to work on the nitrogen behaviour in electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking project, as part of the ADAPT-EAF (Accelerating the Development of Automotive and Packaging steel Technology for EAF production) Prosperity Partnership, in collaboration with industry partner Tata Steel UK. Tata Steel UK has committed to its transition to scrap-based EAF production of high-quality flat products to significantly reduce its CO₂ emissions. The aim of this project is to create fundamental knowledge of nitrogen behaviour under future green steelmaking scenarios to support steel industry decarbonisation. 

Steel is an irreplaceable material in our modern life, while steel industry accounts for 9% of global anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. A range of low-emission steel manufacturing processes is being developed, with EAF steelmaking emerging as a key pathway. However, one of the key technical challenges in the scrap-based EAF steelmaking (where scrap is the primary metallic charge) is achieving the desired nitrogen content in the final steel in a cost-effective manner. Some high-quality steels demand good formability and toughness, along with good surface quality, which necessitates controlling nitrogen to very low levels of ~20-30 ppm. This is achieved by the current BF-BOF steelmaking route because of its excellent nitrogen removal capability. However, alternative metallic charges with low or no carbon content (scrap, carbon-free direct reduced iron, remelted direct reduced iron) are expected to adversely impact the thermodynamics and kinetics of N₂ in the future green steelmaking routes.

Therefore, to enable CO₂ free scrap-based EAF steelmaking, this PhD project will thoroughly investigate the nitrogen absorption and desorption mechanisms of alternate metallic charges with varying conditions of composition, temperature, and pressure, by utilising the experimental facility and modelling expertise at the Advanced Steel Research Centre (ASRC) of WMG. A mathematical model based on the experimental data and fundamentals will be developed to predict the nitrogen in melt with various conditions, validated by industrial scale data.

The research will be carried out by using the world-leading research facilities (high temperature experiment, advanced characterisation and modelling) at the ASRC of WMG, the University of Warwick. This PhD studentship also offers a unique opportunity to work with the leading scientists at Tata Steel UK.

Essential and Desirable Criteria

We are actively seeking an enthusiastic individual to join the Advanced Steel Research Centre (ASRC) at WMG, the University of Warwick with the following entry requirements and expectations:

A 1st or 2.1 undergraduate (BEng, BSc, MEng) and/or postgraduate masters’ qualification (MSc) in a science and technology field such as Metallurgy, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, Manufacturing.

A passion and enthusiasm to challenge the state-of-the-art and to apply the world leading research facilities for the creation of critical knowledge and its industrial applications.

Funding and Eligibility

Funding is available to eligible Home fee status and UK domicile EU students.

Supporting Company: Tata Steel UK

Supervisors: University of Warwick: Professor Zushu Li, Dr Guishang Pei

Tata Steel UK: Dr Ciaran Martin, Dr Bin Xiao

Full details of the duties and selection criteria for this role can be found in the vacancy advert on the University of Warwick's jobs pages. You will be routed to this when you click on the 'Apply' button.

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