(3 years)
Applications are invited for a three year PhD studentship, supported by the School of Engineering and Applied Science, to be undertaken within the Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry Subject Group (http://www1.aston.ac.uk/eas/about-eas/academic-groups/ceac/research/) at Aston University. The successful applicant will join internationally renowned scientists and engineers within the Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry Subject Group working on different aspects of polymer science and advanced materials and processing engineering.
The position is available to start from January 2014.
Financial Support
This studentship includes a fee bursary to cover the home/EU fees rate, plus a maintenance allowance of £13,726 (subject to eligibility).
Due to funding restrictions applicants from outside the EU may apply for this studentship but will need to pay the difference between the âHome/EUâ and the âOverseasâ tuition fees, currently this is £11,010.
Background of the Project
Enhanced oil recovery refers to the third stage of recovering oil from an oil reservoir after the primary production (driven by formation pressure) and the secondary water flooding replacement. At this stage the oil retention normally accounts for 50-60% of the original oil in place, but it is considerably more difficult to recover due to the complexity of oil flow paths in the porous reservoir rock and high temperature, high pressure and high salinity of the reservoir. This research aims to develop new types of cost-effective nanofluids to address the urgent requirement of better enhanced oil recovery technologies and the challenge of controlling properties of enhanced oil recovery fluids from oil reservoirs.
To meet the requirement of both material properties and cost-effectiveness for the large scale production, carbon-based nanoparticles from renewable resources will be developed for the formulation of nanofluids. Manipulation of nanostructures and behaviour of the nanofluids will be applied to control their mass transfer in the microporous reservoir environment.
Person Specification
The successful applicant should have a first class or upper second class honours degree or equivalent qualification in Chemical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Chemistry, materials or a related discipline. Knowledge of nanotechnology (colloidal science and engineering), petroleum production, fluid flow in porous material and formulation would be desirable.
For informal enquiries about this opportunity within the Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry Subject Group, contact Dr Qingchun Yuan by email q.yuan@aston.ac.uk (tel: +44 (0)121 204 3385)
The online application form, reference forms and details of entry requirements, including English language are available from the Apply link below.
Closing Date: 29th November 2013
Ref: R130368
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