Chemical Engineering: Fully Funded EPSRC DTP PHD Scholarship: Carbon Sequestration and Sustainable Product Manufacture by Algae Using a Novel Photo-Bioreactor
This project will seek to generate new products from algae that will be produced from the remediation of industrial effluents. The project will be based at an industrial manufacturing site that will supply flue gas carbon dioxide. In addition, nitrogenous and phosphorus waste will be obtained from other local companies and used as the basis of feedstock to the photobioreactor. Our industrial collaborator holds proprietary IP and will supply a novel photobioreactor to the project, as well as assist in the selection of target compounds to be produced that have greatest potential for market impact. Swansea University also has a series of novel photobioreactors, and this project will facilitate further design improvements as well as comparing and contrasting the reactors at scale for efficiency of CO2 remediation and production yields. Further novelty will be obtained from the development of downstream processes to generate valuable products. Life cycle assessment using near commercial scale data will demonstrate the sustainable nature of the developed products, leading to a true circular economy and impact for green recovery.