Scholarship applications at the University of Glasgow are currently open

ysm180UID: 3858321

The University of Glasgow is the fourth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. It was founded in 1451. It is currently a member of Universitas 21, the international network of research universities and the Russell Group. Alumni or former staff of the University include a founding father of the United States, philosopher Francis Hutcheson, engineer James Watt, philosopher and economist Adam Smith, physicist Lord Kelvin, surgeon Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, and seven Nobel laureates, etc. The University of Glasgow ranks 63rd in the QS World University Rankings 2018.

Scholarship applications at the University of Glasgow are currently open, with deadline 31 January 2018.  The successful applicant is expected to work in the James Watt South Building that was opened by Lord Kelvin in 1901.

The research topic is about Mapping the techno-economic and environmental sustainability of decentralized bioenergy systems for food waste disposal in megacities.

Food waste management is a great challenge for megacities. The improper disposal of food waste could potentially lead to the concerns of public health and hygiene. Traditional centralized disposal methods such as landfill and incineration generally have the shortcomings of significant greenhouse gas (GHG) and toxic by-product emissions. Bioenergy technologies such as gasification and anaerobic digestion (AD) serve as alternative solutions for food waste disposal and could convert food waste into valuable products such as syngas, biochar, and biogas.
In this project, we will propose and optimize gasification and AD-based food waste disposal systems as an alternative to traditional disposal practices (e.g., landfill and incineration) in Glasgow, from an economic and environmental point of view. The systems will consist of waste pre-treatment units, reactors, product treatment units, and combined heat and power generation units and are used to achieve localized waste energy and resource recovery. Expected outcomes will include:
-We will develop an integrated model by combining innovative township concepts with the effective and sustainable management of bioenergy systems.
-We will map the economic and environmental (carbon footprint) feasibility of the systems using Monte Carlo simulation-based cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), which will facilitate optimum system designing.
-The types of valuable products from the bioenergy systems that are most beneficial to Glasgow will be decided. The proposed systems will be compared to the existing practices in terms of economics and environmental sustainability.
-We will also identify the feasibility boundary conditions of the bioenergy systems for formulating effective policy and subsidy incentives.
If you are interested in the project, please email Siming.You@glasgow.ac.uk with your CV for discussing the potential.
The details regarding the scholarship (either school support of CSC support) applications are also available at https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/engineering/phdopportunities/.