Evaluation of hydrogen as a fuel for bulk agricultural drying equipment (PhD scholarship)

Application dates

Applications close

25 November 2022

What you’ll receive

The CSIRO Industry PhD Program (iPhD) is a four-year research training program that focuses on applied research and working with the industry sector. It aims to produce the next generation of innovation leaders with the skills to work at the interface of research and industry in Australia.

You will receive:

• a scholarship package totalling approximately $45,000 per annum for four years, including a full RTP Fee offset
• a structured professional development and training program
• a Project Expense and Development package of $13,000 per annum over four years
• an in-business industry engagement component
• supervision by CSIRO, an industry partner and QUT.

A funding agreement between CSIRO and QUT is currently being negotiated to govern this proposed scholarship

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this opportunity, you must:

• be an Australian citizen or Permanent Resident, or a New Zealand citizen
• meet QUT’s PhD admission requirements , including any English language requirements
• not have previously completed a PhD
• be able to commence in the program in 2023
• enrol as a full-time PhD student
• be prepared to be located at the project location(s) that QUT has approved and, if required, comply with QUT’s external enrolment procedures.

Ideally, you should have:

• an engineering degree, preferably chemical engineering with flow sheeting experience
• an interest in renewable energy and/or hydrogen
• an interest in computational modelling
• some computing/programming skills
• some knowledge in fluid dynamics.

How to apply

Apply for this scholarship at the same time you apply for admission to QUT’s Doctor of Philosophy.

The first step is to email Prof Emilie Sauret detailing your academic and research background, your motivation to research in this field and interest in this scholarship, and include your CV as well as a a 1-2 page research proposal covering your proposed approach to the research.

If supported to apply, you will then submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) following the advice on how to apply for a research degree.

In your EOI, nominate Prof Emilie Sauret as your proposed principal supervisor, and copy the link to this scholarship website into question 2 of the financial details section.

The EOI will then be reviewed and the applicant interviewed by the supervisory team, with the successful applicant then invited to submit their full application.

For any questions about QUT’s application process, please contact hdr@qut.edu.au

For any questions about the research project, please contact Prof Emilie Sauret

For any questions about the CSIRO scholarship project, please contact the IPhD Team.

Conditions

Successful students are subject to the policies, procedures, and guidelines of QUT in addition to the CSIRO Industry PhD Program terms and conditions. Students will receive a standard PhD on completion.

Note that the availability of this scholarship is subject to QUT and CSIRO signing a funding agreement.

About the scholarship

Drying is a coupled mass and heat transfer unit operation process in the chemical engineering discipline. There are over 400 different types of dryers reported in the literature and over 100 distinct types are commonly available for drying of various products. There is no single procedure for dryer development, rather designers employ mathematical models, experimental results and some art or know-how experience in developing new dryers and their operating strategies.

Thermal drying is also an energy intensive process. Generally, these energy sources are obtained from fossil-based natural gas or coal for heat. Green hydrogen can potentially be a clean fuel either as a blend or in pure form. The fuel value based on mass basis is higher for hydrogen compared with natural gas. However, because hydrogen has low volumetric energy density, a heat plant may need larger combustion chamber compared with natural gas. There are research and developments happening to design better equipment that can provide the need for full utilisation of hydrogen in the heat plant for industrial applications.

This project will explore the state-of-the art review of the hydrogen utilisation as a heating fuel source, heat plants, specifically for potential application in grain drying for Agridryer products. A mathematical model will be developed and validated for a number of selected products drying for schedule development (e.g. drying conditions) and equipment design and optimisation using hydrogen as a fuel source. The techno-economic and environmental benefits of such application will be quantified using chemical and process engineering methodologies and life cycle assessment software, tools and CSIRO in-house databases. The results are expected to provide insights and potentially will aid engineering decision making to develop new equipment design and how to operate those equipment using appropriate conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity and air-flow combination for a product with keeping the properties in consideration).

This project is a collaboration between QUT, Agridry Dryers Pty Ltd and the CSIRO Industry PhD scholarship program .