PROJECT
Insect technology: taking a 'bite' out of plastic pollution
Could plastic eating insects help save our environment?
Polystyrene is a non-biodegradable persistent plastic that is accumulating at alarming rates on land and in rivers, lakes and oceans.
To address this, The University of Western Australia (UWA) will unite with Woodside Energy Ltd to investigate the use of insect technology as a means of converting polystyrene waste into high value protein products.
Preliminary studies suggest that larvae of yellow mealworms are capable of degrading polystyrene and polyethylene via enzymatic processes in the larval gut.
We seek a student to investigate the process by which this occurs, and explore other insects that could be intensively farmed for plastic removal.
As part of this project the successful applicant will use mealworms as a test species to:
- Investigate polystyrene to biomass conversion rates
- Investigate mealworms ability to degrade other plastics (i.e. polyethylene)
- Explore larval rearing optimisation (e.g. temperature, larval density and dietary factors) to improve conversion rates
- Perform chemical analyses of larvae and frass to determine nutritional profile
- Prototype a “biodegradation unit” design for deployment to site
Research team leader: Professor Rob Atkin
Rob Atkin is a physical chemist with research interests that span fundamental to applied areas including ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents, break down of plastics using insects, surfactant and polymer adsorption, surface coatings, lubricants, electrolytes, production of biofuels from coal and biomass, microencapsulation, preparation of 2D materials, and protein droplet formation in cells. Atkin makes extensive use of cutting edge facilities in the UWA Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, such as atomic force microscopy and external radiation scattering facilities such as ANSTO and the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. Rob has collaborations with academics and industry partners in Australia and internationally.
This project is in collaboration with:
How to apply
Interested in becoming part of this project? Complete the following steps to submit your expression of interest:
Step 1 - Check criteria
General UWA PhD entrance requirements can be found on the Future Students website.
Step 2 - Submit enquiry to research team leader
Step 3 - Lodge application
After you have discussed your project with the research team leader, you should be in a position to proceed to the next step of the UWA application process: Lodge an application. Different application procedures apply to domestic and international students.
Scholarships
- Scholarship specific to this project
- A PhD scholarship valued at $33000 is available.
- Domestic students
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All domestic students may apply for Research Training Program and University Postgraduate Awards (UPA) scholarships
- International students
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A range of scholarships are available from international organisations and governments. The full list, organised by country, is available on the Future Students website.
In addition, all international students may apply for International Research Training Program scholarships.
- Indigenous students
- Indigenous students are encouraged to apply for Indigenous Postgraduate Research Supplementary Scholarships.
- Prestigious postgraduate research scholarships
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Prestigious postgraduate research scholarships support graduate research training by enabling students of exceptional research promise to undertake higher degrees by research at the University.
