CO2 catalytic conversion using renewable hydrogen sources

About the Project

These projects are open to students worldwide, but have no funding attached. Therefore, the successful applicant will be expected to fund tuition fees at the relevant level (home or international) and any applicable additional research costs. Please consider this before applying.

This experimental project will deal with the global challenge of mitigating CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, by using CO2 as a raw-material to produce fuels and fuel-precursors. It will involve the synthesis of materials, their characterisation and catalytic test under reaction conditions.

The hydrogenation of CO2 into oxygenates and/or hydrocarbons (methane, formic acid, methanol or dimethyl ether) has been the most investigated route to obtain fuels or fuel-precursors from this waste. However, this technology still faces some drawbacks: finding a sustainable hydrogen source and reduce the energy requirements for the chemical conversion of carbon dioxide.

The main goals of this project will be, thus, to develop heterogeneous catalysts with exceptional performance for the hydrogenation of CO2 using sustainable biomass-derived hydrogen sources, understand the behaviour of the catalysts and study the reaction mechanisms and kinetics involved. Catalysts will be optimised to achieve high conversion and selectivity for the desired products and to be active at relatively low temperature.

Beyond conventional thermal catalysis, the project can be expanded to include the development and use of innovative and future emerging energy technologies for the catalytic activation of molecules. These techniques will be used with the target of promoting heat and mass transfer and reducing energy input.

Decisions will be based on academic merit. The successful applicant should have, or expect to obtain, a UK Honours Degree at 2.1 (or equivalent) MEng/BEng in Chemical Engineering or any related discipline, such as BSc in Chemistry, Materials Science.

Essential background: Chemical Engineering, Reaction Engineering, Renewable Energy Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science.

Desirable knowledge: Materials synthesis, materials characterisation, namely N2 physisorption, TGA, FTIR, XRD, gas chromatography, etc., reactor design and kinetics, heterogeneous catalysis. Microsoft Office package (especially Excel).

Application Procedure:

Formal applications can be completed online: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/pgap/login.php.

You should apply for PhD in Engineering to ensure your application is passed to the correct team for processing.

Please clearly note the name of the lead supervisor and project titleon the application form. If you do not include these details, it may not be considered for the studentship.

Your application must include: A personal statement, an up-to-date copy of your academic CV, and clear copies of your educational certificates and transcripts.

Please note: you do not need to provide a research proposal with this application.

Informal enquiries can be made by contacting Dr I Graca at i.graca@abdn.ac.uk. If you require any additional assistance in submitting your application or have any queries about the application process, please don't hesitate to contact us at researchadmissions@abdn.ac.uk

Funding Notes

This is a self-funding project open to students worldwide. Our typical start dates for this programme are February or October.

Fees for this programme can be found here Finance and Funding | Study Here | The University of Aberdeen

Additional research costs / bench fees of £2,000 per annum will be required in addition to tuition fees and living expenses.

References

[1] N. Rouse, C. Fernandez Martin, A.J. MacCue, I. Graça, Paving the way to transfer hydrogenation of CO2 with bio-derived glycerol over Ni supported zeolite catalysts, Applied Catalysis A: General, 687 (2024) 119971.
[2] N. Rouse, C. Fernandez Martin, A.J. MacCue, I. Graça, Roadmap for enhanced CO2 transfer hydrogenation with bio-derived glycerol over Ni-zeolite catalysts: Influence of zeolite structure and Si/Al ratio, Journal of CO2 Utilization, 101 (2025) 103199.