Liam Jones
PIPS Host Organisation: DNV (Industry Partner)
Project Title: Microorganisms in Biomethane Production

Liam Jones primarily supported the ‘Microorganisms in Biomethane Production’ project with his knowledge and background in microbiology. After a site visit to a biomethane production facility, he devised a plan to sample and swab several locations across the process for any microbes. These samples were then analysed using qPCR and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Liam analysed and interpreted the findings to assess any potential threats posed to the facility.

Liam essentially project managed the entire process, sourcing all materials and consumables required and obtaining quotes for the molecular work. He gained experience in project management within the industry, specifically liaising with internal and external stakeholders. Furthermore, he assisted with other projects related to the wider renewable energy sector. This mostly involved helping with testing for the ‘future grid’ project, which evaluated whether the current gas network could support hydrogen through SEM-EDX, hardness testing, and microstructure analysis.

Liam learned and gained a lot of experience from an engineering perspective. He is most proud of being able to impart his knowledge to engineers who had little experience in microbiology. Additionally, having some engineering and material science experience was very interesting for him.