About the Project
Application deadline: 31st August 2014
Start date: October 2014
Eligibility: UK, EU
Duration of award: 3 years
Ref: CRAN1025
Supervisors: Dr Joy Sumner, Dr Adriana Encinas-Oropesa and Dr Nigel Simms
Sponsored by Biomass and Fossil Fuel Research Alliance, this studentship will provide a bursary of up to £17,000 (tax free) plus fees* for three years
Applications are invited from highly motivated and enthusiastic individuals with a keen interest in high temperature materials and power plants.
The fundamental research challenge for this PhD is to develop a suite of interconnected models to predict the degree of fireside corrosion damage experienced in coal- and biomass-fired boilers. By increasing the operating temperatures of these boilers, power plants can run more efficiently, while the use of biomass introduces CO2 neutral fuels into the power generation industry. Together, these can limit the impact that electricity generation from conventional power plants has on the environment. However, both coal and biomass produce corrosive species upon combustion, which can limit the lifetimes of the boiler’s components (such as superheaters/reheaters), leading to failures and unplanned shut-downs. To date, no integrated model for predicting material degradation has been successfully developed for boiler conditions.
The successful PhD candidate will study the sensitivity of materials damage rates linked to specific fuels and/or operating conditions. In particular they will focus on improving materials selection and plant viability by:
• Comparing historical datasets of materials fireside corrosion performance, compensating for the different data gathering and testing methods used by universities and industry.
• Identifying gaps in the historical datasets – in particular with relation to the anticipated future operating conditions using world-traded coals and large fractions of biomass feedstock.
• Determining a suitable suite of models to predict fireside corrosion of common boiler alloys/coatings over a wide range of exposure conditions.
• Expanding the model suite to cover state-of-the-art and future anticipated operating conditions carefully targeted laboratory tests.
• Validating the model suite against historical data (plant, pilot plant and laboratory, as available).
Research relating to the model development will be student-led under the guidance of academic and industrial supervisors. The student will work with a range of other researchers at Cranfield University. The project is part funded by the Biomass and Fossil Fuel Research Alliance (BF2RA), and so will have close links to industries interested in the application of the technology (e.g. E.ON, EPRI, etc). By the end of their PhD, the successful student will be expected to have presented data to numerous review meetings, disseminated their results at international conferences, and published papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Entry Requirements
Applicants should have an UK upper second class honours degree or equivalent in chemistry, physics, materials science, engineering or a related discipline. A master degree relating to high temperature materials or corrosion science is desirable but not essential.
How to apply:
If you are eligible to apply for this research studentship, please complete the online application form
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