Vacancy 1: PhD student: Application of Renewable Microgeneration Technologies for Sustainable Autonomous Operation of Small Remote Water Treatment Systems
Vacancies 2-4: Post Doctoral Research Associate: x1, PhD Student: x2 Development and Integration of Biomass and Concentrating Photovoltaic System for Rural and Urban Energy Bridge: BioCPV
Vacancy 1: PhD student: Application of Renewable Microgeneration Technologies for Sustainable Autonomous Operation of Small Remote Water Treatment Systems
This position is funded by the Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) in Scotland together with:
Scotland has installed 82 water treatment plants based on membrane filtration and with a capacity of 3 to 44,000 m3/day since 1994. The operation of these plants often provides challenges with regards to water quality, maintenance, costs and – most importantly – energy consumption.
This project will, firstly, carry out an in-depth analysis of challenges in system operation, maintenance requirements, component failures, and energy consumption. Secondly, based on the gathered data, the potential of powering these systems from renewable microgeneration will be investigated. This builds on recent work from the UoE/HWU research team has demonstrated that a membrane treatment system can be successfully powered by either wind or solar energy and does NOT require battery storage for achieving safe operation. This has important implications for operation in very remote areas. Extending from this work, we therefore seek to determine what system performance could have been achieved for the existing water treatment plants if they had been powered by a mixture of photovoltaics and small wind turbine(s) and how this would have impacted on both capital and O&M costs. Finally, this will enable us to design a number of different sized systems for possible future deployment in Scotland, as opening up the opportunity to further implement the technology for application in both disaster relief areas and developing countries.
The milestones for this PhD research project will be centred around the following areas and require a strong sense of project delivery to required deadlines, interaction with team partners and ability to publish research findings in high impact journals;
The successful PhD candidate will have a strong background in a relevant (chemical/process/energy) engineering or science discipline (or equivalent) and a strong interest in academic research. A first class honours or upper second is the minimum qualification requirement. Evidence of time management, ability to deliver on deadlines, independent work, strong self-motivation, eagerness to publish in high ranking journals, awareness of equality and diversity, good team spirit and excellent communication skills are important assets of the successful candidate. In addition, the successful candidate will need to formulate the necessary research questions (hypotheses) that are then addressed within the thesis.
A tax-free scholarship of £13590 p.a. will be paid to the successful candidate for a period of 3.5 years. There is also an allowance for materials and a travel budget for the student to attend project meetings and conferences.
Interested candidates are encouraged to prepare a brief 2-3 page research proposal outlining their research motivation and citing current literature on the topic as well as sending curriculum vitae (including three academic referees and publication list) as well as academic transcripts and should contact (preferably via email) to:
Professor Bryce Richards, Director of Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research (SISER), School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK Tel: +44(0) 131 451 3614 – Email b.s.richards@hw.ac.uk
Professor Andrea Schäfer, Chair of Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, William Rankine Building, The King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JL, UK Tel +44(0) 131 650 7209 - Email Andrea.Schaefer@ed.ac.uk
Vacancies 2-4: Research Associate: x1, PhD Student: x2 Development and Integration of Biomass and Concentrating Photovoltaic System for Rural and Urban Energy Bridge: BioCPV
The above mentioned project is funded by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) in collaboration with Indian Government’s Department of Science and Technology (DST). It is part of an active collaboration with the University of Leeds and the University of Nottingham, along with three Indian Universities, Visva-Bharati University; Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. The above mentioned posts (one PDRA and two PhDs) will be based at HWU.
This project addresses a new concept related to integrating solar photovoltaic systems: 1) converting incoming solar energy into electricity with biomass power technologies 2) generating electrical power from biomass/waste materials, for rural electrification. This project seeks to develop a new class of solar photovoltaic technologies–Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) to integrate with Biomass and waste power generation as a second source and to develop high efficiency hydrogen generation and storage from the integrated systems. HWU based researchers will be developing a new reflective based CPV system of concentration ratios of >500× such that the fuzziness at the receiver can be minimised. A series of spectral dependent optical-thermal-electrical modelling, prototype manufacturing, and use of micromachining for making energy efficient receivers will be developed in this project. Specific tasks are:
For PDRA, the successful candidate will have at least a PhD (or final stage of their PhD) in Mechanical Engineering or Physics. Evidence of disseminating their research output are essential. Experience in developing simulation codes for solar energy system is preferable. S/he is expected to regularly publish papers in peer reviewed journals/conferences. The salary range will be £24,000-£35,000, depending on experience.
For PhD studentship, the successful candidate will have strong background in Mechanical Engineering or Physics. A tax-free maintenance fee of £13,590 p.a. will be paid to the successful candidates. Both the PhD studentships are valid only for UK/EU citizens.
Informal enquiries on vacancies 2 – 4 should be made to Dr Tapas Kumar Mallick directly on 0131 451 4379 or t.mallick@hw.ac.uk
For all enquiries on the above positions please contact:
Prof. Bryce Richards
Director of the Scottish Institute for Solar Energy Research (SISER)
School of Engineering and Physical Sciences
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh
EH14 4AS
UNITED KINGDOM
email: b.s.richards@hw.ac.uk
web: http://siser.ac.uk