Green hydrogen from electrolysis of biowaste
Not stated
- Location
- Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Funding
- Studentship funding covers UK Fees and Stipend. To be eligible for this funding, you must be classified as a home student. We require that you are under no restrictions regarding how long you can stay in the UK. Eligible candidates will be selected on the basis of an interview. While there is no funding in place for opportunities marked "unfunded", there are lots of different options to help you fund postgraduate research. Visit funding your postgraduate research for links to government grants, research councils funding and more, that could be available.
- Application deadline
Key facts
- Opens: Wednesday 27 August 2025
- Deadline: Tuesday 31 March 2026
- Number of places: 1
- Duration: 3 years
- Funding: Home fee, Stipend
Eligibility
Students applying should have (or expect to achieve) a minimum 2.1 undergraduate degree in a relevant engineering/science discipline, and be very motivated to undertake highly multidisciplinary research.
Project Details
Biomass electrolysis is a novel process that can cost-effectively turn untreated biowaste into green hydrogen through two steps: (i) Thermal Digestion to abstract protons from biomass using a redox active catalyst at mild temperatures; (ii) Electrolysis of the reduced catalyst solution using a proton exchange membrane (PEM) flow cell to produce H2. This process has the potential to produce hydrogen of equivalent purity and pressure to state-of-the-art water electrolysis technology, with less than half the electrical energy input required. We have previously trialled the utilisation of biowaste from the Whisky distillery industry for this process [1] and aim to build a modular biomass electrolyser at the capacity of up to 1kW for processing liquid and/or solid biowaste.
The PhD project will design, build and test a modular biomass electrolyser that integrates the separation and recirculation of acid catalysts for continuous operations, to be instrumented for measurements of the temporal evolution of the relevant quantities (i.e. hydrogen yield, cell voltages, temperature, pressure, catalyst usage/recycling, etc, plus uniquely, catalyst/redox mediator state of charge). Support from NMIS will contribute to design and prototyping of the electrolysis flow cell stack. The PhD project will also conduct process modelling to help optimise a scalable integrated design for continuous redox cycling of the catalyst with biomass input and output of products.
[1] R. Price, L. MacDonald, N. Gillies, A. Day, E. Brightman, and J. Li, ‘Utilisation and valorisation of distillery whisky waste streams via biomass electrolysis: electrosynthesis of hydrogen’, Faraday Discuss, vol. 247, pp. 268–288, 2023, doi: 10.1039/D3FD00086A.
In addition to undertaking cutting edge research, you are also registered for the Postgraduate Certificate in Researcher Development (PGCert), which is a supplementary qualification that develops your skills, networks and career prospects.
- Chemical and Process Engineering
- PhD Chemical Engineering
Funding details
Studentship funding covers UK Fees and Stipend. To be eligible for this funding, you must be classified as a home student. We require that you are under no restrictions regarding how long you can stay in the UK. Eligible candidates will be selected on the basis of an interview.
While there is no funding in place for opportunities marked "unfunded", there are lots of different options to help you fund postgraduate research. Visit funding your postgraduate research for links to government grants, research councils funding and more, that could be available.
Dr Edward Brightman
Senior Lecturer Chemical and Process Engineering
Dr Jun Li
Reader Chemical and Process Engineering
Apply
Number of places: 1
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Contact us
chemeng-pg-admissions@strath.ac.uk