EMPOWER: Empower AD deployment through zero-waste valorisation of digestate and biogenic CO2 for commercial fertilizers and high-value bioproducts production

About the Project

This four-year project has recently been funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI). Three partner organizations will participate in this project: the School of Engineering/Ryan Institute/J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway; Teagasc Grange Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre (the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority); School of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin (UCD). This project will provide financial support to four PhD students and 1 MScEng student who will be registered in University of Galway and UCD.

This project aims to develop a zero-waste, synergistic process to support AD deployment by converting digestate and CO2 into fertilizer and high-value bioproducts. It will overcome key barriers in biomethane production, enhancing its sustainability and economic viability while supporting Ireland’s renewable energy transition and climate action goals.

The students will start research work after 1 July 2026 but not later than 1 December 2026. They will receive a high level of support from the three partner institutions. The stipend paid to the successful PhD candidates will be €25,000 per annum for four years, in addition to tuition fees of €6,000 per annum. The successful candidate will contribute to advancing sustainable agriculture, waste valorisation, and low-carbon technologies, aligned with Ireland’s biomethane and climate strategies.

The research topics for the five scholarships, along with their associated supervisors and requirements, are as follows:

PhD scholarship 1

This scholarship will develop technologies to valorise liquid digestate and biogenic CO2 for commercial grade nutrient recovery and cost-effective biomethane enhancement with an integrated bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) technology. The research work will be conducted in the Environmental Lab at University of Galway under the supervision of Prof. Xinmin Zhan.

Academic Entry Requirements:

• a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline.
• has demonstrated laboratory research experience.
• Excellent analytical, organisational, and communication skills.
• Experience with fermentation and anaerobic digestion.
• Knowledge of analytical instrumentation (e.g., GC, HPLC).

PhD scholarship 2:

This project focuses on transforming solid digestate into high-value microbial biopesticides using an innovative biphasic solid-state fermentation (SSF) process. The research addresses critical bottlenecks in SSF, particularly heat accumulation and process scalability, and aims to deliver semi-continuous, industry-relevant production systems. The PhD student will be supervised by Dr. Yuansheng Hu at UCD.

Academic Entry Requirements:

Essential:

• A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Environmental Engineering, Biotechnology, Microbiology, or a related discipline.
• Strong understanding of microbial processes and/or fermentation systems.
• Demonstrated laboratory research experience.
• Excellent analytical, organisational, and communication skills.

Desirable

• Experience with solid-state fermentation, composting, or anaerobic digestion.
• Experience with cell and spore enumeration techniques (e.g., CFU counting, microscopy).
• Familiarity with microbial community analysis (e.g., sequencing methods).
• Knowledge of analytical instrumentation (e.g., GC, HPLC).

PhD scholarship 3:

Systems modelling can be a useful aid to understand how production systems react to changing circumstances and new developments and innovations in production systems research. Previous research by Dr. Paul Crosson combined bioeconomic farm systems modelling with partial LCA for integrated livestock-AD production models. The overall objective of this study is to further extend this framework to quantify the impact of novel technologies (specifically bipolar membrane electrodialysis) on AD plant performance and the emissions intensity of biofertilizer production. The PhD student will be supervised by Dr. Paul Crosson at Teagasc.

Academic Entry Requirements:

Essential:

• A first-class Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, Biosystems Engineering or a related discipline.
• Strong understanding of agricultural systems and/or sustainable energy systems.
• Demonstrated data analytics or quantitative analysis experience.
• Excellent analytical, organisational, and communication (written and oral) skills.

Desirable

• Experience with anaerobic digestion and biomethane production.
• Experience with life-cycle assessment or biosystems modelling.
• Familiarity with economic evaluation of agricultural or energy systems.
• Publication of scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.

PhD scholarship 4:

This project aims to complete a market and stakeholder analysis for energy security and climate goals. This is a unique opportunity to work on a nationally funded project that combines academic insight with real-world applications. The PhD candidate will specifically explore the market potential and exporting opportunities of anaerobic digestion (AD) byproducts e.g. biogas, digestate and fertilizer in both Irish and international markets. The project aims to contribute impactful theoretical results for marketing and sustainability, as well as evidence-based recommendations for energy security. This PhD research is supervised by Dr. Patricia McHugh in J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at University of Galway.

Academic Entry Requirements:

• 1st class or 2.1 honours Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Marketing, Business, or closely related discipline.
• Candidates must possess excellent written and verbal communication skills and a strong passion and motivation for excellence in research, with a view to publication, international conference presentations and collaborations.
• Strong self-motivation and self-learning abilities, and a high sense of responsibility and teamwork spirit.
• Problem-solving, critical thinking and troubleshooting skills.

Research Masters Scholarship:

This project aims to test a bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) technology for nutrient recovery from digestate BMED technology at a pilot scale. This research work will be supervised by Prof. Xinmin Zhan at University of Galway.

Academic Entry Requirements:

• 1st class Bachelor’s Degree in environmental science and engineering, chemical engineering, or chemistry.
• Candidates must possess excellent written and verbal communication skills and a strong passion and motivation for excellence in research.
• Strong self-motivation and self-learning abilities, and a high sense of responsibility and teamwork spirit.
• Problem-solving, critical thinking and troubleshooting skills.

For PhD scholarships 1, 2, and 3 and the Research Masters scholarship application, please send your transcript, CV, a cover letter with names and contact details of two referees to (the subject title “PhD application 2026 - your name”):

• PhD Scholarship 1: Prof. Xinmin Zhan at xinmin.zhan@universityofgalway.ie.
• PhD Scholarship 2: Dr. Yuansheng HU at yuansheng.hu1@ucd.ie.
• PhD Scholarship 3: Dr. Paul Crosson at paul.crosson@teagasc.ie.
• Research Master Scholarship: Prof. Xinmin Zhan at xinmin.zhan@universityofgalway.ie.

For PhD scholarship 4, please send a research proposal, your transcript, CV, a cover letter with names and contact details of two referees to (the subject title “PhD application 2026 - your name”): Dr. Patricia McHugh at patricia.mchugh@universityofgalway.ie