Low-cost high-performance catalysts for green hydrogen production from wastewater

Project summary

Huge volumes of wastewater are produced from both residential, commercial, and industrial settings. Advanced processes to clean and purify this water already exist, however, there remains both liquid and solid products from these processes that require disposal. While conventionally seen as waste, these products do in fact contain significant amounts of extractable hydrogen that can be exploited. This embraces the ethos of a circular economy in which products are reused at their highest value, as opposed to being disposed of, to improve sustainability and eliminate waste and pollution.

This project will explore the feasibility of catalytically cracking and pyrolyzing compounds in these waste streams to produce hydrogen effectively and efficiently and with minimal impurities that could limit its application in downstream processes. The project will involve designing and testing thermal catalytic processes and assessing product distributions to understand their feasibility in an industrial setting. You will gain experience in process chemistry and chemical engineering, material synthesis, and catalytic science. You will also interact and work with a range of industrial partners within the CDT to build experience in addressing real-world challenges and solutions in sustainable hydrogen production.