HDR Scholarship - Waste landscape

Location

Geelong Waterfront Campus

Research topic

Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities underpin initiatives to mitigate environmental emissions as well as support advancement towards circular economy. EfW facilities provide a sustainable alternative to landfill solid waste management. Wastes suitable for EfW plants are residual wastes that cannot be recycled, and hence, the emission-savings, social license and improved energy-security are attractive features for many nations. Despite the heightened interests, implementation of effective EfW schemes is complex, requiring considerable planning, integration and coordination. To date, the available computational techniques to support EfW facilities are disjointed and limited in scope, leading to unrealistic understanding of their sustainability impacts and perpetuating disappointing performance for investors and policymakers.

This Scholarship is part of the Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub (REACH) and supported by Neugen Technology as our key industry partner who are committed to developing a EfW facility, which will be the first integrated resource recovery plant in Australia. Neugen Technology aims to be able to leverage on its experience on integrated proven technologies. Integrated recovery plants have the added benefit of integrating other manufacturing purposes with EfW facilities including paper manufacturing, carbon capture storage, as well as considering cutting-edge renewable initiatives.

Project aim

The aim of this project is to develop a dynamic Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) model to optimise decisions made on EfW facilities based on feasibility, location, capacity and temporality. The dynamic LCSA approach can analyse the multi-dimensional and non-linear aspects of EfW facilities and will provide the basis for initiating science-based targets on the commissioning and procurement of future EfW facilities.

Specific objectives are to:

Establish the indicators that impact on the holistic sustainability performance of EfW facilities.
Synthesise the interdependencies between the indicators comprising the individual life cycle techniques (Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC), and Social LCA (S-LCA) in EfW facilities.
Develop a dynamic and integrated life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) model for EfW facilities to evaluate and optimise whole-of-life sustainability performance of EfW facilities.
Benchmark and optimise the performance of the dynamic life cycle sustainability assessment model to support future EfW facilities.

Important dates

Applications close 5pm, Sunday 26 November 2023.

Benefits

This scholarship is available over 3 years.

Stipend of $33,500 per annum tax exempt (2023 rate)
Relocation allowance of $500-1500 (for single to family) for students moving from interstate
International students only: Tuition fees offset for the duration of 4 years. Single Overseas Student Health Cover policy for the duration of the student visa.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible you must:

be a domestic or international candidate. Domestic includes candidates with Australian Citizenship, Australian Permanent Residency or New Zealand Citizenship.
meet Deakin's PhD entry requirements
be enrolling full time and hold an honours degree (first class) or an equivalent standard master's degree with a substantial research component.

Please refer to the research degree entry pathways page for further information.

Additional desirable criteria include:

knowledge and skills in simulation and mathematical modelling;
an excellent research track record in sustainability-oriented research or application of life cycle techniques;
some experience in undertaking sustainability-oriented research and publishing research reports and high-impact scholarly journals;
excellent technical problem-solving, oral and written communication skills;
proficiency in use of software tools and databases.

How to apply

Please email a CV, experience statement and cover letter to Dr Olubukola Tokede. The CV should highlight your skills, education, publications and relevant work experience. As part of the statement please outline your experience with the additional desirable criteria. If you are successful you will then be invited to submit a formal application.