Prediction of environmental-related properties of ionic liquids using group contribution methods

The versatility and wide range of applications of ionic liquids (ILs) offer industry with endless possibilities for sustainable innovation. However, one of the main barriers to a commercial uptake of ILs has been the lack of low-cost and experiment-free mechanisms for predicting different sustainability aspects of ILs such as their environmental impacts. Whilst the prediction of physicochemical properties of ILs is already well established, this needs to be expanded to include sustainability metrics.

This project will focus on the environmental sustainability of ILs manufacture, which is currently overlooked in early stages of their design. The environmental impacts of ILs are dependent on the reaction pathway and precursors needed for their synthesis and this project aims at developing group contribution models for predicting such data, following the approaches taken to predict their physicochemical properties. This will be achieved by combining molecular modelling, statistical methods and life cycle assessment. The outputs from this project will guide the ILs research community to design and manufacture environmentally sustainable ILs in support of Net Zero applications.

The successful applicant will join the Sustainable Industrial Systems group and the Multi-Scale Modelling group at the Department of Chemical Engineering. For more details, see www.sustainable-systems.org.uk and www.ceas.manchester.ac.uk/research/themes/multi-scale-modelling/

Applicants should have or expect to achieve at least a 2.1 honours degree in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Material Science or any other related degree.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and is at the heart of all of our activities. We know that diversity strengthens our research community, leading to enhanced research creativity, productivity and quality, and societal and economic impact. We actively encourage applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds and from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status.

We also support applications from those returning from a career break or other roles. We consider offering flexible study arrangements (including part-time: 50%, 60% or 80%, depending on the project/funder).