Cement production simulation - Optimising the clinker production process to minimise energy cost and CO2 production.

Cement production accounts for around 5% of human CO2 emissions and around three tons of concrete are produced each year for every person on the earth. Despite its ancient origins and massive modern scale of production, the actual tools used to design and optimise the cement production process are relatively simple when compared to other established industries. Modern chemical engineering relies on commercial tools which automate the optimisation of plants (e.g., Aspen HYSYS). At the heart of these tools are applied thermodynamics solvers as each process operation can be viewed as a thermodynamic path. Unfortunately these tools are not yet specialised for cement simulation due to a lack of thermodynamic data and models for key process equipment such as the cement kiln. They are also not easy to extend due to the use of old programming languages and have an extremely high cost to users.

Here, at the University of Aberdeen, a open-source thermodynamic toolkit called SimCem (http://SimCem.com) is being developed. This is both a database of thermodynamic data and an applied thermodynamics engine. It uses modern programming techniques and simple to use interfaces (e.g., python). It has already been used to formulate several new types of low-carbon cement, as well as simulate and optimise their production at pilot scale as part of our recent Green Concrete Project. Thanks to these early successes, there are now many opportunities to dramatically optimise cement production using this approach, as well as provide consultancy work in debugging process plant issues.

The successful applicant will be trained in cement production design and optimisation. They will use and extend SimCem to simulate the full cement clinkerisation process plant and work with our industrial partners to solve real production process problems. Broadly the research will focus on optimising the clinker production process to minimise energy cost and CO2 production.

The successful candidate should have, or expect to have, an Honours Degree at 2.1 or above (or equivalent) in Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science.

Essential Background: Some experience in programming and computational problems. Training in cement thermodynamics and production will be provided..

Knowledge of: Programming, basic physics, and calculus to undergraduate level.