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Understanding Phase Behaviour in the Geological Storage of Carbon dioxide Studentship
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| Scholarships or student grants level |
Graduate
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Countries where scholarship
or student grant is applicable |
United Kingdom /
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Universities where scholarships or
student grants are applicable |
University of Manchester /
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Countries which are eligible
for the scholarhips or student grants |
Austria / Belgium / Bulgaria / Cyprus / Czech Republic / Denmark / Estonia / Finland / France / Germany / Greece / Hungary / Ireland / Italy / Latvia / Lithuania / Luxembourg / Malta / Netherlands / Poland / Portugal / Romania / Slovakia / Slovenia / Spain / Sweden / United Kingdom /
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| Scholarships or student grants program description |
This is a fully funded NERC studentship for UK and EU students, with a standard NERC stipend currently at £12,600 p.a. The project will be supervised by Professor Chris Ballentine (SEAES) and Dr Andrew Masters (SCEAS).
The studentship is for three years and the deadline for applications is 1st March, 2009. The project has both practical and modelling aspects. We are seeking applicants with, or expecting to get, at least a 2.1 degree, or equivalent, in a physical science.
Please contact Dr Masters (Andrew.masters@manchester.ac.uk) for more information.
Project Description
Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been identified as the most important compound currently affecting the stability of the Earth’s climate. Storage of anthropogenic CO2 in geological trapping structures is one of the key options for short-term control of CO2 emissions. In order for this technology to be safely implemented the long term consequence of injecting CO2 into the subsurface must be quantified. Noble gases have been used to investigate subsurface fluid systems since the early 1990’s (Ballentine et al., 2002). This technique uses the unique noble gas isotopic composition of crustal, mantle and groundwater-derived fluids to quantify their respective contributions to the sampled fluid. Through investigation of the noble gas component elemental abundance pattern in the same samples, deviations from the expected end-member composition can be attributed to the physical processes of transport and multi-phase interaction.
A NERC funded Manchester PhD student recently completed a pilot study of noble gas isotopes and abundances in key natural CO2 analogues from the Colorado Plateau, region, USA (Gillfillan 2006). This work shows that in the shallowest gas field studied, Bravo Dome, the noble gas results can be modelled as a re-dissolution process, enabling the gas-water interaction across the reservoir to be quantified. In contrast, while the same model applies qualitatively to deeper CO2 systems studied, these systems do not provide a match with any model and quantifying the gas-water interaction in these systems contains considerable uncertainty.
A key difference between these systems and Bravo Dome is that because of their increased depth CO2 is no longer a gas phase but a supercritical fluid. This will considerably change the relative partitioning behaviour of the noble gases between the two different phases and probably accounts for the mismatch. While noble gas partitioning data between water and a CO2 gas phase exists, there is no data available to calculate noble gas partitioning between a CO2 supercritical phase and brine.
This PhD studentship will:
1. Determine the noble gas partition coefficients experimentally over a range of pressures and temperatures and water salinities;
2. Use this data to validate and develop a theoretical model of noble gas solubility in CO2 (Valtz et al., 2004; Paricaud et al., 2002) applicable to a wide range of geological systems but especially geological CO2 storage sites and analogues; and
3. Apply this to model existing data to quantify CO2/groundwater interaction in systems relevant to geological CO2 storage. The student will be trained in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and computation as well as laboratory techniques of noble gas determination.
The studentship will suit a numerate student with a background in physics, chemistry, chemical engineering or in the earth and environmental sciences
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Study fields funded by
the scholarships or student grants |
Engineering / Sciences: Pure And Applied /
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| Official scholarships or student grants website: |
click here to go to the official website
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| Official scholarship or student grants email: |
Andrew.masters@manchester.ac.uk
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Scholarships
Junior Fulbright Program
United States
Ford Foundation International Fellows Program
Worldwide
Rotary Fellowships
Global Network of Community Volunteers
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| Student grants |
Bowland College - Willcock Bursary
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Department of Homeland Security Undergraduate Scholarship Program
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The Harry S. Truman Scholarship
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TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP
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Moore College of Art & Design Dean’s Scholarship
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Louise Beil Maglisceau 29 Endowed Scholarship
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Scallon Scholarship
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Presidential Scholarships
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3M Scholar Nursing Scholarship
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Hartford County Retired Teachers Association Scholarships
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Washington County Campus Foundation Scholarships
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| Universities |
Spa Tech Institute, United States- Massachusetts, Ipswich, Plymouth, Westboro
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Briarwood College, United States- Connecticut, Southington
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Southwestern College of Business, United States- Ohio, Dayton
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University of Richmond, United States- Virginia, Richmond
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Ivy Tech Community College - Kokomo, United States- Indiana, Kokomo
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Cortiva Institute, United States- Illinois, Chicago, Crystal Lake, Woodridge
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Private Universität für Gesundheitswissenschaften, Medizinische Informatik und Technik, Austria, Tirol
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Maryville College, United States - Tennessee, Maryville
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South Puget Sound Community College, United States- Washington, Olympia
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University of Southern Nevada, United States- Nevada, Henderson
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