Nina studied at Leeds university for an integrated masters with a year in industry in chemistry. During her four fantastic years of study, she enjoyed it and learnt a lot, however her main interests were in; the characterisation of inorganic compounds; chemistry of combustion and atmospheric chemistry. She also enjoys cycling and she has recently converted her conventional road bike into a full electric bike.
During her placement year she worked as a laboratory technician at an oil refinery in north east Lincolnshire. Although the oil refinery bragged about its carbon capture programme, it was a polluted environment with lots of greenhouse gas emissions released constantly. Billowing smoke and blazing flares was an eye opener to how anthropogenic activities like the oil refinery are destroying our world.
Her final year at Leeds saw her working on her masters project in crystallisation chemistry. More specifically the characterisation of the crystal growth of calcium sulfate using x-ray diffraction. It was a hands on project with the modification of flow reactors so that the characterisation was as clear as possible. She immersed herself in the research and found that her learning excelled in this way. In addition, her research group of like-minded scientists made it enjoyable for her and she felt part of a community. Doing a PhD excited her and she felt inspired by her masters project.
When discovering AAPS Nina was surprised at how it mixes combines the work of different disciplines into ways of providing cleaner transport systems. To see that she could mix her passion for cars and bikes with chemistry into a PhD was a dream come true.
Nina's PhD project will focus on designing, testing, and fabrication of microreactors specifically for photochemical carbon dioxide reduction reactions (CO2RR). The photochemical CO2RR is a chemical process that uses light energy to convert CO2 into fuels or chemicals. A microreactor, also known as a microstructured or microchannel reactor, is a device in which chemical reactions occur within a confined space with lateral dimensions typically smaller than 1 mm.
Most efforts to enhance CO2RRs have focused on improving reaction chemistry, such as catalyst development. However, reactor engineering and process intensification represent parallel research avenues that could also advance the technology. Only a few research groups have explored the use of microreactors for continuous CO2 reduction, with reports indicating that the improved mass transfer in these systems enhances selectivity toward liquid hydrocarbons. Efficient mass transfer, which enables reagents to cross the boundary layer adjacent to the catalyst surface, is critical—particularly in multi-phase reactions like photochemical CO2 reduction. Although continuous microreactors have shown promise, the reactor's role in the process is not yet fully understood. Further investigation and optimisation of microreactor channel designs could lead to better process control and performance.
The design of microreactors plays a crucial role in influencing the outcome of reactions. Factors such as channel design, geometry, and the surface area-to-volume ratio can be adjusted to steer a reaction in a desired direction. The different microreactors designs will be created using computer-aided software and designs will be transformed into the physical model using a 3D printing process. However before the manufacturing of the physical models, computational fluid dynamics will be used to test these designs.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses computers to simulate and analyse fluid flow. By employing CFD, the flow and mixing of reactants through the different microreactor designs can be modelled, allowing for an assessment of how the reactants behave and the calculation of various key parameters. The designs with the most efficient mixing and diffusion properties for photochemical reactions will be optimised by making slight modifications and retesting.
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