Student projects
Towards consistent life cycle assessment of enhanced oil recovery
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is often considered a solution to reduce GHG emissions from oil production and utilization1; some studies even claim net-negative emissions from EOR (‘carbon-negative oil’)2, considering the injection of captured CO2. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a suitable method to evaluate the overall environmental burdens over the entire life cycle of an EOR system. However, many of these current LCA studies have limited system boundaries (i.e., not cradle-to-grave), thus, typically exclude emissions, for example, from burning oil. Here, we aim to determine the so-called ‘solution space’ in terms of GHG impacts (and beyond) of EOR systems, considering a wide range of scenarios and CO2-sources (biogenic, fossil, etc).
Main tasks during the MSc project:
Literature review on prior LCA performed on enhanced oil recovery, determining the system boundaries, multi-functionality, and scope. Additional attention will be given to how EOR is modelled, especially regarding the CO2 source used, and what kind of allocation method and system expansion approaches are applied.
- Knowledge from the literature review is used to collect data on the different unit processes considered within the system boundaries of EOR. To be decided whether to use GHG impact factors or full life cycle inventories (if possible).
- Sketching and generating EOR scenarios, considering different CO2-sources, allocation methods, and system expansion.
- Calculating the LCA impacts considering these different scenarios.
- Finally, recommendations will be given on how to perform consistent LCA of EOR.
References
1. Jaramillo, P., Griffin, W. M., & McCoy, S. T. (2009). Life cycle inventory of CO2 in an enhanced oil recovery system.
2. Hornafius, K. Y., & Hornafius, J. S. (2015). Carbon negative oil: A pathway for CO2 emission reduction goals. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 37, 492-503.
Suitability: MSc project
Starting date: As soon as possible, e.g. April 2024
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Marco Mazzotti ()
Supervisors: Dr. Tom Terlouw (), Vittoria Bolongaro ()
If you are interested, please send your motivation and transcript of records to Tom Terlouw ().
Project Goal
Cheese whey, a major by-product of cheese production, represents one of the main waste streams in the dairy industry. Within the transition towards circular economy, several valorization strategies have been proposed to exploit cheese whey while minimizing waste production. Particular attention is given to the recovery of lactose, one of its main components, which is a promising starting material for the production of high-value chemicals, such as prebiotics, bioplastics or as an excipient in pharmaceutical tablets.
In aqueous solution, lactose undergoes an intramolecular reaction leading to two diastereomers, α- and β-lactose, that slowly interconvert until equilibrium: the reaction is called mutarotation. Below 93 °C, α-lactose is the least soluble compound and is traditionally recovered from whey as monohydrate via seeded batch cooling crystallization. Such process is governed by the complex interplay between secondary nucleation, growth and mutarotation. A fundamental process parameter to be monitored for process development is the lactose concentration in solution, in terms of both α- and β-lactose. Hence, the purpose of this research project is implementing an ATR-FTIR inline concentration-measurement technique to investigate the crystallization properties of lactose.
More information can be found in the Downloadproposal. (PDF, 327 KB)vertical_align_bottom
Suitability
Master thesis, or with reduced scope Bachelor Thesis/Semester Project
Work Type
40% Experimental, 60% Modeling
Supervisor
Project Goal
Freezing is an essential process in the pharmaceutical industry to improve the stability and thus shelf life of biopharmaceuticals. For example, most of the commercially available COVID-19 vaccines have to be stored in the frozen state. As the lack of stability is a major burden for most biopharmaceuticals, there is a need for a better understanding and control of the freezing process. While freezing generally increases the shelf life, quantifying the extent of this effect remains challenging, since it depends strongly on both the physicochemical properties of the specific drug and on the freezing conditions.
It is the objective of this work to integrate models for several degradation pathways of biopharmaceuticals into an existing open source python package for the simulation of the freezing process that was recently developed in our lab. This work thus will improve our understanding how different freezing process parameters are linked to the stability of the final, frozen drug products. More information can be found Downloadin the proposal. (PDF, 139 KB)vertical_align_bottom
Suitability
Masterarbeit (MA), or with reduced scope Bachelorarbeit (BA) or Semesterprojekt (SA)
Work Type
100 % Modeling
Supervisor
Leif-Thore Deck
Project Goal
This project aims at deepening the understanding of ice nucleation in complex aqueous systems during freezing. Such knowledge is required in order to optimize the design of freezing processes in the pharmaceutical industry, as e.g. used in the manufacturing of COVID vaccines. To do so, the student will carry out a comprehensive experimental campaign using the methodology recently developed in our lab. The campaign will involve various vial types made of different materials and coatings, as well as different environmental conditions (sterile conditions, standard lab environment). The experimental findings will be analyzed in detail in order to identify promising vial specifications, and potentially to develop novel vial coatings with superior nucleation properties.
More detailed information can be found Downloadin the proposal. (PDF, 175 KB)vertical_align_bottom
Suitability
Master Thesis
Work Type
50% Experimental and 50% Theoretical/Modelling
Supervisor
Project Goal
In this project, experimental characterization of downstream processes to complement the in silico tools developed in a complementary project will be undertaken. A significant portion of this project will be spent in selecting, designing, and constructing tools to characterize the downstream processing steps, especially powder flowability. A classical engineering approach will be used to perform targeted experiments that would help identify an empirical model to describe the impact of population characteristics on the chosen downstream processing step within a reasonable range of operating conditions. (Full Description)
Suitability
MA
Work Type
50 % experimental, 30 % theoretical, and 20 % modeling
Supervisors
Anna Jaeggi and external pageAshwin Kumar Rajagopalancall_made
Project Goal
The size and shape of crystallized products influence the downstream processes, hence it is beneficial to manipulate their size and shape during the upstream crystallization step. The manipulation of the size and shape of needle-like particles has already been studied at SPL. The outcome of a complementary work on multidimensional characterization of nonequant particles, will facilitate the manipulation of size and shape of particles characterized by three dimensions, especially plate-like particles. To this aim, in this project, processes will be developed to manipulate the size and shape of such populations of particles. It is worth noting that plate-like particles are not uncommon in pharmaceuticals. (Full Description)
Suitability
SA/MA
Work Type
20 % theoretical and 80 % modeling
Supervisors
Anna Jaeggi and external pageAshwin Kumar Rajagopalancall_made