These supplementary scholarships (top-ups) are funded by the Australian Research Council to support 2 full-time PhD students who wish to undertake research in the field of battery recycling:

Project 5.2: Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) are increasingly being studied for their potential role in lithium-ion battery recycling.  DES has limitation for industrial application due to its poor performance in following cycles caused by changes in chemistry and hydrogen bond donor (HBD) composition. DES also exhibits poor chemical stability at higher operating conditions, resulting in solvent loss. Furthermore, current DES solvents show excellent performance only in selected batteries, and there are limited studies on their performance with mixed battery chemistries. This project aims to develop effective intermediate processes to restore DES composition for reuse. It will investigate the performance of existing DES(s) on mixed battery chemistries to propose a synergistic ionometallurgy design. Lastly, it will conduct toxicity tests and life cycle assessments (LCA) to evaluate the feasibility of the ionometallurgy process. 

For DES restoration, this project will introduce in-situ HBD addition to improve performance, design a reactor to restore DES to its original state before recycling, and investigate utilisation of by-products from the mixed chemistry batteries.  

For different battery chemistries, this project will Investigate current DES(s) on “controlled” mixed battery chemistries; specifically NMC:LFP ratios. It will also develop an extraction process to optimally recover metals from NMC:LFP black mass, and if synergy is established, the optimal NMC:LFP ratio will be also evaluated.

Project 6.1: This project will develop processes to feed spent battery materials into an existing smelter. This process needs to be appropriate to prepare a feed to the smelter that can be processed in existing plant and equipment. The process also will be required to take products from the smelter for further refining in order to produce a saleable product (for example Li, Ni, Mn, Al are not currently produced at Port Pirie).

The supplements are funded by the ARC Training Centre for Battery Recycling to support full-time PhD students who are commencing research in battery recycling. 

Eligibility: 

Applicants may be Australian citizens, permanent residents of Australia or international students who are acceptable as candidates for a PhD degree at the University of Adelaide. 

Stipend: 

The supplementary scholarship will be for 3.5 years and has a stipend of $11,000 per annum. 

As the ARC Training Centre for Battery Recycling offers a PhD stipend top-up only, applicants must apply for and be awarded a University of Adelaide postgraduate research scholarship to be eligible for the top-up. In your application, please refer to the Project Title to indicate which project you are applying for.

It is likely to be tax exempt, subject to Taxation Office approval.  

Applying: Expression of interest 

Expressions of interest should be submitted to Philip van Eyk (Philip.vaneyk@adelaide.edu.au) and applications will be open until filled.  Please include the name of scholarship in the subject heading. Please ensure you include all of the following documents

• Evidence of Australian or New Zealand citizenship, or Australian permanent resident status (if applicable)
• Degree certificates (testamurs)
• Academic transcripts
• Translations of non-English documentation
• Evidence of English language proficiency
• Curriculum vitae