Repurposing of the pipeline infrastructure for transportation of Hydrogen, natural gas and their blends, Carbon Dioxide in UKCS for NET ZERO Innovation

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.

Net Zero technology research is a new theme of developing novel innovations with the advent of hydrogen and decarbonisation projects across all the sectors. Pipeline transportation of natural gas is very well established in the UKCS and for the household supply. With the increasing call for usage of hydrogen for mitigating the energy demand while minimising the carbon emissions, its pipeline transport is being investigated for the repurposing option of the existing pipeline network, be it for domestic home supply or interconnected network of pipelines connecting the near abandonment matured hydrocarbon UKCS fields.

Dr Jadhawar led the hydrogen innovation research project titled, “Repurposing of the pipeline infrastructure for transportation of Hydrogen, natural and their blends, Carbon Dioxide in UKCS using digital twins” in a consortium of industrial partners and funded by Net Zero Technology Centre (NZTC). We aim to expand our IP with further expansion of research ideas through doctoral research.

Applications for prospective PhD studentships are invited to undertake innovation research in the following areas. Doctoral projects will exploit these activities combined with various research and development approaches. This project aims investigate number of research aspects through the experimental and numerical simulation approaches amongst the following topics (but not limited to):

1. Hydrodynamic flow of hydrogen, Natural gas blends (with hydrogen) in through the experimental and numerical simulations, optimization of the blends, evaluation of various operational practices
2. Pipeline flow assurance aspects with respect to CO2 and H2 – pipeline material interactions (H2 embrittlement), leakage evaluation
3. Hydrate flow assurance (natural gas, CO2 hydrates), steady state and dynamic flow conditions over the pipelines, risk assessment etc.
4. Development of Machine learning and AI tools/applications, digital twins.

Multiple PhD positions available for self-funded projects. Please get in touch with Dr Prashant Jadhawar (prashant.Jadhawar@abdn.ac.uk) and Prof Amir Siddiq (amir.siddiq@abdn.ac.uk) for informal queries.

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) petroleum, chemical/oil and gas/energy/mechanical/computational engineering.

The student must have a strong appetite for applied research with a boarder insight into and/or willingness to adapt thermodynamic and kinetic behaviour of gases, in multiphase flow behaviour in pipelines/simulation fundamentals, corrosion, materials characteristics, mechanical engineering aspects. Knowledge/Experience of pipelines simulation and the respective simulation tools with the programming languages and code development will be advantageous.

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.

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