CharWorks-Process Modeling for Continuous Carbonization of Biomass Residues in Low-Resource Settings

UROP Title: CharWorks-Process Modeling for Continuous Carbonization of Biomass Residues in Low-Resource Settings

Term UROP is offered: Spring 2021

Compensation: Paid ($13.50/hr) or credit (Note: MIT undergraduate students who received their ELO guarantee in Fall 2020 or IAP 2021 are not eligible for financial compensation Spring 2021)

Location: Remote

Supervisor/Contact: Dan Sweeney


Project Description

Cities in low-income countries consume thousands of tons per day of forest-derived charcoal for household and commercial cooking, contributing to deforestation, regional air pollution, and global climate change. Organic waste from cities and farms accumulates in massive quantities, becomes a nuisance, and is often landfilled or openly burned. These under-utilized waste streams can be used to manufacture char, a valuable raw material that can be used to make organic fertilizers and a substitute for wood charcoal (charcoal briquettes), however efficient and safe conversion technology at scale is not accessible.

This is a great opportunity to apply your engineering skills to an impactful project!

More on MIT D-Lab Biomass Fuels and Cookstoves research.

Prerequisites

Students working on this UROP project will perform process and economic modeling to assess the mass and energy balances, and cost-effectiveness of such a process. Applicants should have familiarity with mathematical (e.g. MATLAB, Python) and chemical process modeling software (e.g. ASPEN).

Compensation

This is a paid UROP opportunity at $13.50/hour with an expectation that the student will spend between 80-140 hours on the project over the course of the semester.

Apply (ideally by February 26, 2021)

Interested candidates should email Dan Sweeney, MIT D-Lab Research Scientist; Lead, MIT D-Lab Biomass Fuels and Cookstoves Group.


Link to opportunity on MIT Elx site