Bath Chemical Engineering PhD Studentship: Developing Scalable Electrochemical Recovery and Regeneration of Critical Materials for Hydrogen Technologies

Bath Chemical Engineering PhD Studentship: Developing Scalable Electrochemical Recovery and Regeneration of Critical Materials for Hydrogen Technologies

The project description is dated 17 October 2026 and gives an expected start date of 4 October 2027. The funding and programme terms below are dated October 2026. Confirm current availability and personal award terms before submission.

Quick Decision

A strong opportunity to explore, provided the initial research scope and award terms are confirmed. This Bath Chemical Engineering project links metal recovery to the regeneration of useful catalytic structures. Its central process-engineering question is whether dilute waste can be turned into a functional material with defensible energy, resource and economic performance. James Matthew Courtney is the lead enquiry contact; Professor Frank Marken is listed as co-supervisor. The project description gives an expected start date of 4 October 2027. The October 2026 Engineering URSA terms allow international applicants and provide for Home or Overseas tuition and maintenance; they set a deadline of 29 November 2026 at 23:59 GMT. Selection is competitive, and the individual's funded duration is not specified. Supervisor profile, Funding terms

Research Problem and Doctoral Work

The proposed starting materials are end-of-life hydrogen components and industrial waste streams containing platinum, iridium or nickel. Recovery of iron and copper from polluted environments is a longer-term aim. The project combines electrochemical dissolution with particle-assisted deposition and three-dimensional manufacture, then examines the catalytic performance of the resulting materials. It is not simply metal separation or conventional printing from clean commercial feedstock. The scientific question connects which materials can be recovered, the structure and composition that form, and the function they retain.

The student will develop the three-dimensional printing apparatus and examine how particle type, solution composition, printing pattern and material choice affect composite structures and their subsequent catalytic function. The project describes a controlled impinging-jet approach and training in electrochemistry, electrolysis, electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and depth-from-defocus microscopy for three-dimensional topography. Sustainable development, environmental economics and mass flows across supply chains provide the wider context. A workable thesis will need a bounded first feedstock and material system because waste composition, deposition behaviour and catalyst performance each introduce uncertainty. Recovery percentage alone cannot establish purity, useful catalytic lifetime or whether the product has practical value. Earlier Courtney-coauthored work provides relevant feasibility evidence, but does not demonstrate the complete proposed hydrogen-waste process. Original palladium study

The central engineering challenge is to test the proposed benefit using system-level accounting. Electricity, pumping, pretreatment, residual solutions, consumables, separation and product quality all affect comparison with existing routes. A 2026 external original study of electrified platinum-group-metal upcycling combines recovery with life-cycle and economic assessment; its abstract identifies electricity and effluent treatment as important burdens. That study is by another team and uses a different flowsheet, so its performance cannot be attributed to this PhD. It supports asking for comparable system boundaries. External frontier study

Potential doctoral outputs include an account of how feedstock variability changes deposition and catalyst function, an engineering assessment of scale-up constraints, and a transparent analysis of resource trade-offs. Low energy use, avoidance of harsh chemistry and commercial viability are objectives to test. The project description does not identify a named waste supplier, licensed access to industrial material, pilot capacity or a guaranteed industrial demonstrator.

School, Programme and Field Context

The formal degree is a full-time Chemical Engineering PhD at the University of Bath, course RECE-AFM02, within the Faculty of Engineering & Design. The programme normally takes four years, with probationary registration followed by confirmation, a thesis and viva. Its published minimum and normal maximum are two and four years respectively. The award's funding period must be considered separately from this academic timetable. Official programme

This setting can connect electrochemical phenomena with reactor and process performance. The department places sustainable materials, manufacturing, energy and waste processes within its research environment. Training in microscopy and surface analysis could help link catalytic behaviour with material structure. A university equipment list does not establish the student's individual access, booking priority, technical support or budget for repeated measurements; confirm these arrangements with the supervisors.

Bath's submitted REF 2021 Engineering unit had 96% of research rated 4-star or 3-star; the unit combined several engineering departments. QS 2027 places Bath 125 overall. Neither measure ranks this supervisory team or guarantees the proposed technology's performance. The relevant question is whether the team's electrochemistry expertise, process-development experience and facilities allocated to the student fit the work. REF evidence, QS context

MyDoctoralDevelopment offers researcher and transferable-skills activities. Confirm how this general framework will support experimental planning, quantitative data interpretation, reproducibility and the economic/environmental component. No named industrial placement, joint degree or professional accreditation specific to this studentship is stated. Doctoral development

Supervisor and Lab Assessment

Dr James Matthew Courtney is listed as Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, with official email jmc274@bath.ac.uk. His ORCID matches the Courtney authorship in the studies discussed below. The cited Bath profile is brief and does not describe group size or an individual supervision model. Bath profile

Professor Frank Marken is in the Department of Chemistry. His profile states that he is accepting doctoral students and describes work on electrochemical interfaces, catalysis, water and energy. His public contact is F.Marken@bath.ac.uk. This offers complementary fundamental electrochemistry expertise, but the project description does not specify how the two supervisors will divide day-to-day guidance. Other grants and industrial projects on his profile do not establish this student's funding or placement. Marken profile

Three Courtney-coauthored original journal studies are relevant:

• Oladeji and colleagues, JACS 2022: recovery of palladium from a dilute proxy solution was connected to carbon-supported catalyst fabrication and catalytic tests. The reported comparison found roughly 85% recovery with particle mediation versus 65% without it in that study. The evidence cited here covers the original indexed introduction text, method categories, selected findings and the complete conclusion; it is not a full-paper assessment. This is a useful recovery-to-function proof of concept, not a complete real-waste recycling balance or validation for Pt, Ir or Ni. Original study

• Oladeji, Courtney and Rees, Electrochimica Acta 2022: the complete institutional abstract reports copper deposition on metallic particles and fly-ash cenospheres, supported by electrochemistry and material analysis. It expands the possible particle-support materials but does not establish a scaled manufacturing route. The evidence does not cover the full methods, results or supplementary data. Original abstract

• Keal, Courtney and Rees, JPCC 2023: the complete original abstract and selected indexed text report manganese and manganese-dioxide formation on carbon black, with a more complex oxidative pathway. This illustrates why metal speciation and reaction mechanism matter. These manganese results cannot simply be transferred to the advertised target metals. The evidence does not cover the complete paper or supplementary data. Original study

Across these studies, the evidence ranges from selected indexed text to complete abstracts; none should be treated as a complete-paper assessment. Clarify the starting apparatus, day-to-day technical mentoring, meeting frequency, waste-handling responsibilities and how electrochemical and process-level guidance will be shared.

Funding, Application, and Living Cost

This project competes for Engineering URSA. The October 2026 terms include an international route: Home or Overseas tuition, annual maintenance and a training fund of up to £1,000 per year. The general Engineering funding limit is up to three and a half years, not a personal guarantee of 42 paid months or four funded years. Overseas places are capped in the project information, without a published percentage. Visa and IHS costs are paid personally. URSA terms

The stated £21,805 maintenance figure is the 2026/27 rate. The 2027 rate, personal payment dates, continuation conditions and provision for any unfunded writing-up period need confirmation. Published 2027/28 Engineering Overseas PhD tuition is £31,350, with annual increases possible. An Overseas-fee studentship is materially different from maintenance alone; obtain explicit confirmation of fee coverage and any additional bench-cost arrangements in the offer. Tuition reference

Bath's dated 2025/26 sample postgraduate budget is £405 weekly or £21,060 for 52 weeks, excluding tuition, flights and visa charges. Its university-managed average rent is £230 weekly, with contracts described as 51 weeks. Compared with the later £21,805 stipend, that annual sample leaves £745 before excluded costs and price changes. This cross-year illustration signals limited headroom, not a prediction of the individual's 2027 spending. Official sample budget

The October 2026 government references are a £558 Student visa application fee and student IHS of £776 per visa year. Visa length and part-year rules affect the upfront total. Keep relocation, deposits and a possible funding-to-degree gap separate from routine living costs. No reimbursement commitment is stated for this Bath award. Visa, IHS

Applicant Fit and Preparation

The project requires an obtained or expected first-class or 2:1 UK Honours degree, or international equivalent. A Master's is advantageous. Chemistry, materials or chemical engineering is preferred, but applicants with three-dimensional printing or process-design backgrounds have an explicitly described alternative. These preferences are not mandatory credentials. Confirm whether the programme's general Master's entry alternative applies to this specific project.

Applicants from under-represented groups are encouraged. If circumstances affected educational attainment, applicants may briefly explain this at the end of the personal statement. After disability is declared in the application, the Disability Service will contact the applicant to discuss support needs.

Chinese applicants have an in-principle route through international degree equivalence, a programme open to worldwide applications and Overseas-fee funding. An earlier indexed Bath country page described desirable China PGR preparation, while the country guidance cited for this assessment directs doctoral applicants to their individual courses. Its Chinese taught-postgraduate percentage range is not a PhD cutoff. Confirm individual qualification equivalence rather than relying on a universal Chinese score. International qualification guidance

The programme's IELTS requirement is 6.5 overall, with at least 6.0 in each component. For TOEFL iBT/Home Edition tests before 21 January 2026, the requirement is 90 overall with at least 21 in every component; for tests on or after 21 January 2026, it is 4.5 overall with at least 4.0 in every component on the new scale. Results must be within 24 months of entry. An eligible recent English-medium degree may support an exemption, subject to university confirmation. Non-UK applicants who are not currently studying in the UK must satisfy the English requirement before the application deadline, with no exceptions; a generic conditional offer or pre-sessional option does not postpone this competition's deadline. English rules

Apply through the Chemical Engineering form, select University of Bath URSA, and enter the project title exactly as shown in the advertisement and the lead supervisor in the specified first- and second-choice fields; the maximum is two projects. The advertised title is “Bath Engineering & Design Studentships: Critical material recovery and regeneration across the Hydrogen Value chain through scaled electrochemical engineering”. Prepare an up-to-date CV, degree certificates, transcripts, a personal statement and two references, including an academic referee from the most recent institution attended. Intended supervisors cannot supply those references. The saved material does not specify which documents trigger a requirement for authorised translations; confirm this with admissions. The programme's 1,000-word proposal requirement concerns an applicant-designed project, not an automatic extra requirement for this defined project. Bath prohibits AI-generated application text; use this report to understand the opportunity, not as application text. Application guide

Next Actions and Questions to Verify

Before applying, contact Courtney to confirm whether this project remains open, which metal and feedstock will be prioritised first, and what equipment is already established. The project information gives a date of 29 November 2026; the October 2026 Engineering URSA terms specify 23:59 GMT on that date. Course and funding terms describe the competition framework but do not establish current vacancy availability. Ask whether an agreed alternative start date changes the award.

At interview, discuss how the project will distinguish metal recovery, material quality and useful catalytic function, and how energy and resource comparisons will be made. Ask about the experimental/process-modelling balance, access to real waste, technical supervision and a realistic scope if mixed-feedstock work proves difficult. Existing studies support these questions but do not promise an industrially validated closed loop.

Before accepting, confirm individual Overseas-fee coverage, stipend, funded term, continuation, additional research charges and the writing-up plan. Clarify supervision frequency, data/IP conditions, apparatus access and material-supply permissions. The cited ATAS rules cover Chemical Engineering; Chinese nationality is not on the listed exemption set, so follow the subject and clearance instructions in the individual offer and allow time alongside CAS and visa preparation. This is an approval process, not a categorical ban on Chinese applicants. ATAS rules

Skills in electrochemical process development, materials characterisation and resource accounting could support academic research, recycling, catalyst manufacture and engineering development. The UK's Critical Minerals Strategy identifies processing and recycling capability as strategic priorities. This is career context, not a job, salary or project-commercialisation guarantee. Policy context

Evidence and Sources

Project, supervisors and original research

• University of Bath PhD project advertisement
• James Matthew Courtney Bath profile
• Frank Marken Bath profile
• Oladeji Courtney et al. 2022 palladium recovery and in-situ catalyst original
• Oladeji Courtney Rees 2022 copper impact deposition original
• Keal Courtney Rees 2023 manganese impact redox original
• 2026 external electrified PGM upcycling original study

School, programme and training

• Chemical Engineering PhD official programme
• Bath REF 2021 submitted engineering results
• Bath doctoral professional development
• QS Bath overall 2027 table

Funding, application, costs and careers

• URSA 2027 Engineering international studentship
• Bath current doctoral application guide
• Bath doctoral English rules
• Bath Chinese research-degree qualification route
• Bath Engineering research tuition 2027/28
• Bath postgraduate budget 2025/26
• UK Student visa route
• UK immigration health surcharge
• ATAS nationality and covered subject rules
• UK Vision 2035 Critical Minerals Strategy