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Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras
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Use one form per project
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Please complete & submit to international@nuigalway.ie
as soon as possible, and by 27/11/2012
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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:
Dr Rory Monaghan
Energy Systems Engineering n/a
Research group / centre website:
PI website / link to CV:
Member of:
Combustion Chemistry Centre (C
3
)
Informatics Research Unit for Sustainable Energy (IRUSE) http://c3.nuigalway.ie/ http://www.nuigalway.ie/iruse/ http://c3.nuigalway.ie/staff/rory_monaghan.html
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=10194626&trk=tab_pro
Brief summary of PI research / research group / centre activity (2 or 3 lines max):
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Advanced numerical techniques (CFD & reduced-order modelling) for thermo-fluid energy applications
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Analysis & modelling of sustainable energy pathways & technology options
Title & brief description of PhD project (suitable for publication on web):
Closing the Water-Energy-Waste Cycle: Sustainable Energy from Sewage Sludge and Animal Slurry
The proposed research aims to address the dual challenges of growing energy requirements for treatment of human wastewater and animal slurry, and the lack of sustainability in current approaches to sludge management and disposal. The research will focus on the creation of a technology pathway by which wastewater and animal slurry influents are converted to sustainable energy resources, while dramatically reducing the land area required for sludge disposal, i.e. landspreading. At its core, the proposed pathway involves extremely low-energy dewatering of influents, followed by energy recovery via gasification. Gasification produces a synthesis gas (syngas) that can be converted to heat and/or power via subsequent combustion, or valuable liquid or gaseous fuels.
The low-energy dewatering process has been developed at NUI Galway (NUIG) and is currently undergoing pilot-scale evaluation at a wastewater treatment (WWT) plant. This process produces sludge of moderate heating value, which is suitable for energy recovery. The proposed research will focus on the development and modelling of gasification technology for energy recovery from treated sewage sludge. Work will be performed in collaboration with continuing research into dewatering with the aim of optimising the performance of both processes.
Key considerations of the project include overall efficiency (can WWT plants become energy self-

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Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras sufficient?), product selection (Which final products are most suitable for the available feedstocks?), emissions control, process and heat integration with the dewatering process, and impact in emerging economies (With rapid growth in wastewater infrastructure, energy consumption and livestock numbers, how can this technology be adapted for emerging economies?).
Unique selling points of PhD project in NUI Galway:
 Work with the Combustion Chemistry Centre, one of the world’s leading combustion research groups
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Work as part of the Ryan Institute for environment, marine & energy research, one of the largest interdisciplinary groups in this field in Europe
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Very strong and active research links to global academia in this area, e.g. MIT, Politecnico di MIlano
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Work will be performed in NUI Galway’s Engineering Building, the largest engineering education facility in Ireland
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The work will be co-supervised by Dr Eoghan Clifford, developer of the novel dewatering process
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A pilot-scale dewatering reactor is in operation nearby which provides ready access to feedstock samples
Name & contact details for project queries, if different from PI named above:
Please indicate the graduates of which disciplines that should apply:
Mechanical Engineering, Energy Systems Engineering, Chemical Engineering
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
Pure and Natural Sciences (e.g. mathematics, physics, chemistry)/Physical Sciences (Mathematics,
Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geosciences)
Health and Biomedical Sciences / Clinical, Pré-clinical and Health Sciences
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Computing
Aerospace
Pharmaceuticals
Sustainable Agricultural Production
Oil, Gas and Coal
Renewable Energy
Minerals, Minerals Technology
Biotechnology
Nanotechnology and New Materials
Technologies for Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Disasters
Bioprospecting and Biodiversity
Marine Sciences
Creative Industry
New technologies in constructive engineering
X

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Universidade Nacional da Irlanda em Galway -- Ciência sem Fronteiras
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): N
Suitable for either/Don’t know: N