2023 RTP round – Green hydrogen production from gasification of organic waste materials

Status: Closed

Applications open: 8/07/2022
Applications close: 18/08/2022

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About this scholarship
Description/Applicant information

In order to combat climate change and limit the expected global temperature increase below 2 °C, Australia has recently set up the Long-Term Emissions Reduction Plan to reduce its emissions to net-zero by 2050. Australia generates a large amount of organic waste every year. In 2020, the total organic waste generated increased to 42.9 million tonnes. Currently, 43% of total organic waste is disposed of via landfill, which causes various environmental issues, i.e., contamination of groundwater, the release of landfill gas contributing to global warming, etc. Moreover, a large amount of biomass is also generated in Australia. For example, Western Australia (WA) produces up to 10 million dry tonnes of mallee biomass per annum as a by-product of managing dryland salinity. Therefore, such a large amount of organic waste materials provides a huge opportunity to develop a waste-based bioenergy industry in Australia. Gasification is a promising technology to produce green hydrogen from various organic waste materials. The produced green hydrogen can be used locally for decarbonising various heavy industries or sold to other countries (i.e., Japan).
In this project, gasification experiments of various organic waste materials (i.e., biomass, food waste, plastics, rubbers, etc) will be undertaken using a fluidised bed reactor to produce high-quality syngas, which will be further processed via steam reforming and water-gas shift reactions to increase the hydrogen production. More importantly, the biochar produced during gasification will be employed to synthesize the carbon-based catalysts for steam reforming to reduce the tar yield during gasification. Therefore, this project will investigate the gasification of various organic waste materials using carbon-based catalysts for the production of green hydrogen. The main purposes of the project are to (1) understand the co-gasification behaviour of single and mixed organic waste materials using carbon-based catalysts in a fluidised bed reactor; (2) investigate the interactions between various organic waste materials during gasification using carbon-based catalysts in a fluidised bed reactor; (3) study the effect of gasification conditions (i.e., feedstock mixture, gasification temperature, catalyst type) on the quality of syngas during gasification using carbon-based catalysts in a fluidised bed reactor; and (4) propose a cost-effective and energy-efficient gasification technology to convert various organic waste materials into green hydrogen. 

An Internship opportunity may also be available with this project.

Student type

• Future Students

Faculty

• Faculty of Science & Engineering
  • Science courses
  • Engineering courses
  • Western Australian School of Mines (WASM)

Course type

• Higher Degree by Research

Citizenship

• Australian Citizen
• Australian Permanent Resident
• New Zealand Citizen
• Permanent Humanitarian Visa

Scholarship base

• Merit Based

Value

The annual scholarship package (stipend and tuition fees) is approx. $60,000 – $70,000 p.a.

 

Successful HDR applicants for admission will receive a 100% fee offset for up to 4 years, stipend scholarships, valued at approx. $28,800 p.a. for up to a maximum of 3.5 years, are determined via a competitive selection process. Applicants will be notified of the scholarship outcome in November 2022. 

 

For detailed information, visit: Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarships Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

Scholarship Details
Maximum number awarded

1

Eligible courses

All applicable HDR courses

Eligibility criteria

The applicant should hold a Bachelor degree (1st Class Honours) / Master degree in Chemical Engineering or related fields. 

Application process

If this project excites you, and your research skills and experience are a good fit for this specific project, you should contact the Project Lead (listed below in the enquires section) via the Expression of Interest (EOI) form.

Enrolment Requirements

Eligible to enrol in a Higher Degree by Research Course at Curtin University by March 2023

Enquiries

To enquire about this project opportunity that includes a scholarship application, contact the Project lead, Dr Yun Yu via the EOI form above.

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