Sustainable management of PFAS-contaminated materials

Less-PFAS

The aim of the Less-PFAS project is, in cooperation with partners from Sweden, Finland and Norway, and with the support of the industry, to optimize the existing and most promising PFAS destruction methods, and scale them up to practical solutions in the field.

Funders

Project information

Project duration

-

Funded by

European Structural and Investment Funds - INTERREG

Project funder

European Union
Interreg Nord
The Regional Council of Lapland

Project coordinator

Other university or unit

Contact information

Contact person

Project description

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are extremely stable chemical compounds, widely used in multiple applications and products worldwide. Due to their chemical stability, PFAS are extremely difficult to break down, which means that the substances spreads over large areas and accumulate in nature over time. The specific aims of the Less-PFAS project are to:

  1. To develop a sorbent that combined with the specific degradation technique could be applied to clean water and simultaneously destroy PFAS.
  2. To optimise existing PFAS degradation techniques and scale them up to practically applicable methods in field.
  3. To demonstrate/validate the techniques on a pilot scale.
  4. To provide companies with ready-to use techniques to clean PFAS contaminated soil and water.
  5. To spread the information about the chemical itself and about the possibilities to sustainably manage PFAS-contaminated materials.

Less-PFAS is financed by the EU program Interreg Nord. University of Oulu is also receiving co-financing from the Regional Council of Lapland.

Link to Coordinator's project webpage

Project results

Publications:

Ren Z, Bergmann U, Uwayezu JN, Carabante I, Kumpiene J, Lejon T, Leiviskä T (2023). Combination of adsorption/desorption and photocatalytic reduction processes for PFOA removal from water by using an aminated biosorbent and a UV/sulfite system. Environmental Research 228, 115930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2023.115930

Ren Z, Bergmann U, Leiviskä T (2021) Reductive degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid in complex water matrices by using the UV/sulfite process. Water Research 205, 117676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117676

Uwayezu JN, Carabante I, Lejon T, van Hees P, Karlsson P, Hollman P, Kumpiene J (2021). Elelctrochemical degradation of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances using boron-doped diamond electrodes. Journal of Environmental Management 290, 112573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112573

Poster:

Ren Z, Leiviskä T (2021) Innovation for PFAS Elimination by Photocatalytic Reduction Link to poster

Video:

Link to Less-PFAS video

Project Activities