Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are extremely persistent, harmful chemicals that have complex transport behaviors in the environment. To assess the risks and long-term environmental impacts of PFAS from contaminated hotspots, there is a great need for improved process understanding as well as modelling tools for PFAS fate and transport from source zones of contamination further into the environment and into recipients and drinking water resources.

The overall aim of this project is to develop practically useful models for improved understanding and predictions of PFAS transport originating from contaminated hotspots. We will test existing models and further develop them to better account for transport processes and phenomena which are specifically important for PFAS, including retention processes at air-water interfaces, interaction/competition between chemical species and PFAS-specific sorption phenomena. Models for unsaturated and saturated zones will be tested and developed and will finally be integrated to create practical modelling tools to predict the transport from sources of PFAS contamination all the way to recipients. As a PhD-student you will be part of a dedicated research group working on PFAS. The project is financed by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency as part of a call on non-toxic life cycles which includes 6 projects in total.

Read more andapply for position: https://www.jobb.uu.se/details/?positionId=703434

Contact: Fritjof Fagerlund, PhD, Professor in Geohydrology, E-mail: fritjof.fagerlund@geo.uu.se