Version 2

Use one form per project

Please complete & submit to international@nuigalway.ie
as soon as possible, and by 27/11/2012

In your email, begin the subject line with [SWB] (be sure to use square brackets) to ensure that your email is filed correctly. Emails will be automatically filed
PI name & contact details:
School:
Has project been agreed with head (or nominee) of proposed registration school?
Research Centre / group affiliation:
Research group / centre website:
Dr Mark Healy
Engineering and Informatics
Yes
The Ryan Institute www.ryaninstitute.ie
PI website / link to CV: http://www.nuigalway.ie/civileng/Staff/markhealy.html
Brief summary of PI research / research group / centre activity (2 or 3 lines max):
If you are already involved in relevant scholarly activities relating to Brazil, please mention them here.
The Geo-Environmental Research Group (GERG) at NUI Galway is led by Dr Mark Healy (NUI Galway) and Dr Owen Fenton (Teagasc), and comprises statisticians, agronomists, and biologists. GERG’s research focus is the study of the impact of engineering and agricultural activities on the soil, environment and atmosphere.
Title & brief description of PhD project (suitable for publication on web):
The treatment of leachate using upflow and downflow sequential bioreactors filled with different types of media.
Leachate is the product of water that has percolated through waste deposits and has undergone aerobic and anaerobic microbial decomposition. Leachate contamination of groundwater, rivers, lakes and soils has the potential to negatively affect the local environment and human population.
Some of the negative effects of a landfill site include nauseous smells, leachate production, smoke generation, landfill settlement, and potentially high leachate seepage. This may result in groundwater pollution, soil and vegetation damage. The physical mechanisms by which contamination of the surrounding environment can occur include infiltration recharge from surface water, direct migration, and inter-aquifer exchange. A landfill site has the ability to produce leachate through its working life time and also for several hundred years after it is decommissioned.
Consequentially, the control of a landfill site and the leachate it produces is paramount in the protection of surrounding natural resources.

Version 2
The aim of this project is to use a combination of biological and physico-chemical processes to treat different types of leachate (fresh, stabilised) from a selection of different sources (municipal solid waste, etc.). Filter columns (‘bioreactors’) containing different media will be operated aerobically or anaerobically to treat the leachate in laboratory-scale experiments. The performance of each filter media will be analysed at each hydraulic, organic and nutrient loading rates and their impact on greenhouse gas emissions at each mode of operation will be continuously monitored.
Tasks involved: Working as part of a research group. Literature search. Design, construction and operation of the laboratory bioreactors. Testing of the bioreactors for a range of chemical parameters (COD, BOD, nitrogen, phosphorus, etc.) Analysis and synthesis of results.
Unique selling points of PhD project in NUI Galway:
NUI Galway projects should emphasise features that are not typically available in Brazil – specific equipment, multi-disciplinarity, aspects of structured programme, links with industry, placements, links with other research groups etc.
This project would allow the successful candidate the opportunity to work as part a multidisciplinary group within NUI Galway’s environmental engineering facility, which has links in Australia, USA,
Finland, France, the UK, and Brazil. The Civil and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, constructed in 2011 at NUI Galway, is a state-of-the-art laboratory and is amongst the most pre-eminent laboratories of its type in Ireland. It is located in the largest engineering building in Ireland. The laboratory has state-of-the-art environmental water quality measurement, microbiological, and gas measurement facilities. GERG is also closely affiliated with Teagasc, Johnstown Castle, which is
Ireland’s leading research institute on the rural environment, and which conducts both fundamental and applied research on a wide range of subjects, e.g. nutrient efficiency, water quality.
Name & contact details for project queries, if different from PI named above:
Please indicate the graduates of which disciplines that should apply:
Graduates with a background in Civil/Environmental Engineering, or any natural science subject
(geology, chemistry, hydrogeology) should apply. Training will be provided by the project supervisor.
Ciência sem Fronteiras / Science Without Borders Priority Area:
Please indicate the specific programme priority area under which the proposed PhD project fits- choose only one (tick box):
Engineering and other technological areas x
Please indicate which of the following applies to this project (referring to Science Without Borders arrangements):
Suitable only as a Full PhD (Y/N): _ __Y__
Available to candidates seeking a Sandwich PhD arrangement (Y/N): __Y___
Suitable for either: __Y___