Research projects
- Research area
Accelerate consent and support environmental sustainability
- Institution
University of Hull
- Research project
Transforming non-recyclable waste into sustainable solutions: Novel anti-corrosion coatings for offshore wind turbines
- Lead supervisor
- PhD Student
- Supervisory Team
Dr Martin Taylor (Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Hull)
Dr Kirsten Dyer, Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult
Professor Richard Barker, University of Leeds
Project Description:
This PhD scholarship is offered by the EPSRC CDT in Offshore Wind Energy Sustainability and Resilience; a partnership between the Universities of Durham, Hull, Loughborough and Sheffield. This project is further supported by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and the University of Leeds. The successful applicant will undertake six-months of training with the rest of the CDT cohort at the University of Hull before continuing their PhD research at Hull. The project is part of a PhD Research Cluster, Keeping it green: Preserving materials and repurposing waste within the Offshore Wind sector.
By 2050, it is estimated that the generation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) will increase to around 4.54 billion tonnes, a 45% increase from 2019. Among MSW, Non-Recyclable Plastic (NRP) waste has been a long-term environmental and economic concern. Landfilling and incineration of NRP waste have several environmental consequences, such as contamination of groundwater and soil, the release of greenhouse gas emissions, microplastics, bisphenols, and phthalates, and resource depletion. This waste management approach represents a missed opportunity for a more sustainable approach to waste management.
Offshore wind energy is a leading option for clean energy generation due to more reliable and higher wind speeds than onshore locations. However, since Offshore Wind Turbines (OWTs) are exposed to harsh and corrosive environmental conditions, corrosion is the main root cause of offshore structure failure. The cost of corrosion repair can reach £1k/m2 depending on the distance from shore and water depth. The application of coating systems is the most common method used to control corrosion in OWTs.
The EU’s energy plan aims to become the world leader in offshore wind energy production by 2030 by including 55 GW. To meet this objective, it is necessary to decrease OWTs maintenance costs and increase the reliability of current wind energy system technologies. This project aims to develop a sustainable, superhydrophobic, cost-effective, anti-corrosion coating system from the NRP waste for the direct application on the steel structures of the submerged zone, tidal zone, splash zone, and atmospheric zone, based on the following objectives:
1/ Generation of coating material from NRP waste, mainly polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride, using electrophoretic deposition technique.
2/ Characterisation of coating material structure and stability.
3/ Testing the corrosion performance of the coatings.
4/ Carrying out a Techno-economic Assessment (TEA) for utilising NRP waste in developing an anti-corrosion coating system, to be completed in parallel with the experimental work.
Project Sponsor & Industry Supervision
Entry Requirements
If you have received or expect to achieve before starting your PhD programme a First-class Honours degree, or a 2:1 Honours degree and a Masters, or a Distinction at Master’s level a degree (or the international equivalents) in chemistry, engineering, or environmental science, we would like to hear from you.
Training & Skills
The student will be provided with fully funded training on electrochemical characterisation technologies at the University of Leeds, the research partner. This includes sample preparation, electrochemical setup, PP and EIS measurements, and data analysis. The University of Leeds will also provide funded access to its Bragg Centre for Materials Research via Professor Richard Barker.
Moreover, the student will be trained in materials characterisation technologies such as FTIR, SEM, EDS, AFM, pH and conductivity measurements, Zeta-potential measurements, and contact angle measurements at the University of Hull. The student’s extensive technical knowledge will enable them to pursue an academic path or work in various roles in the industry, such as an environmental engineer, senior material and corrosion technologist, or quality control specialist.
You will also benefit from a taught programme, giving you a broad understanding of the breadth and depth of current and emerging offshore wind sector needs. This begins with an intensive six-month programme for the new student intake, drawing on the expertise and facilities of all four academic partners. It is supplemented by Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which is embedded throughout your 4-year research scholarship.
For more information about the project, please email Dr Amthal Al-Gailani via A.Z.Al-Gailani@hull.ac.uk. For enquiries about the CDT, please email auracdt@hull.ac.uk.
Watch our short video to hear from Aura CDT students, academics and industry partners:
Funding
The CDT is funded by the EPSRC, allowing us to provide scholarships that cover fees plus a stipend set at the UKRI nationally agreed rates. These have been set by UKRI as £20,780 per annum at 2025/26 rates and will increase in line with the EPSRC guidelines for the subsequent years (subject to progress).
Eligibility
Our funded Doctoral Scholarships are available to UK Students. The advertised CDT scholarships in this current recruitment round are available to Home (UK) Students only as the CDT has reached the annual cap, set by the funding council (UKRI EPSRC), on international student recruitment for the 2025 intake. To be considered a Home student, and therefore eligible for a full award, a student must have no restrictions on how long they can stay in the UK and have been ordinarily resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the start of the scholarship (with some further constraint regarding residence for education).
Guaranteed Interview Scheme
The CDT is committed to generating a diverse and inclusive training programme and is looking to attract applicants from all backgrounds. We offer a Guaranteed Interview Scheme for home fee status candidates who identify as Black or Black mixed or Asian or Asian mixed if they meet the programme entry requirements. This positive action is to support recruitment of these under-represented ethnic groups to our programme and is an opt in process.
How to apply
Please ensure that you familiarise yourself with the Aura CDT website before you apply to give you a good understanding of what a CDT is, our CDT’s research focus and the training and continuing professional development programme that runs alongside the CDT. The Frequently asked questions page and Candidate resources page are essential reading prior to applying.
Applications are open until Friday 9 May 2025
Applications to this project are made via the University of Hull admissions system. If you have not applied to the University of Hull before, you will need to set up an account to enable you to track the progress of your application and upload supporting documents.
Follow the appropriate link to apply for this CDT project at the University of Hull:
With your application, you need to upload copies of the following supporting evidence:
- Complete transcripts (and final degree certificate(s) where possible). If your qualification documents are not in English, you will need to supply copies of your original language documents as well as their official translation into English.
- Your Curriculum Vitae (CV).
- A completed Supplementary Application Form (upload when asked to add a Research proposal).
Please download the Supplementary Application Form here.
Ensure you complete all sections of the Supplementary Application Form in font and size Calibri 11pt, specify the research project you are applying for.
Uploading the form
When you have completed the form, please save it as a pdf format and labelled as follows:
Last name_first name PhD application form
Upload the form as part of your application documents through the University of Hull student application portal, when asked to add a Research Proposal. The Form replaces the Research Proposal and so you do not need to add a Research Proposal. Please do not send your form directly to the Offshore Wind CDT.
Interviews will be held online with an interview panel comprising of project supervisory team members from the host university where the project is based. Where the project involves external supervisors from university partners or industry sponsors then representatives from these partners may form part of the interview panel and your supplementary application form will be shared with them (with the guaranteed interview scheme section removed). Interviews will take place during early and mid-June.
For more information about the project, please email Dr Amthal Al-Gailani via A.Z.Al-Gailani@hull.ac.uk. For enquiries about the CDT, please email auracdt@hull.ac.uk.
References and further reading:
[1] Maalouf A, Mavropoulos A. Re-assessing global municipal solid waste generation. Waste Management & Research. 2023 Apr;41(4):936-47.
[2] Price, SJ and R.B. Figueira, Corrosion Protection Systems and Fatigue Corrosion in Offshore Wind Structures: Current Status and Future Perspectives. Coatings, 2017. 7(2): p. 25.
[3] Sikkema, R., K. Baker, and I. Zhitomirsky, Electrophoretic deposition of polymers and proteins for biomedical applications. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 2020. 284: p. 102272.
[4] Lutzler, T., T.V.J. Charpentier, R. Barker, S. Soltanahmadi, W. Taleb, C. Wang, A. Alejo-Rodriguez, E. Perre, H. Schneider, and A. Neville, Evaluation and characterisation of anti-corrosion properties of sol-gel coating in CO2 environments. Materials Chemistry and Physics, 2018. 216: p. 272-277.
