Partners

The University of Nottingham is a public research and teaching-focused institution with a truly international footprint. With more than 40,000 students spread across its campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia, the university is consistently ranked among the UK’s top 20 (QS World Rankings 2025). Within the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, researchers work at the forefront of sustainable process engineering, waste valorisation and net-zero innovation, supported by strong collaborations with industry. This global perspective, combined with academic excellence across its three campuses, underpins Nottingham’s commitment to shaping solutions with real-world impact.

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Main Task

As part of SPLENDOR, UoN will design and construct a bench-scale supercritical water system to depolymerise lignin from black liquor in a single step, supporting the kinetic study carried out at Ghent. The work will also focus on developing a deeper understanding of the kinetics of lignin depolymerisation and creating a novel approach for in-line product separation. In addition, UoN will investigate how the process can be engineered and scaled up, while building a techno-economic understanding of the overall depolymerisation process.