07. Sep 2020

There has been no practice of applying on-site remediation to manage polluted sites with emerging pollutants in the Arctic. The main objective of this project is to initiate and develop remediation methods in the Arctic. The former coalmine, Svea in Svalbard provides an ideal case study, representing the challenges of applying on-site remedial actions in the Arctic, e.g. cold climates and logistics. In addition, the emerging contaminants, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), have been found in concentrations that pose a risk to the marine environment. Rather than adopting the present practice of transporting the polluted soil to mainland Norway with intensive environmental impacts, this project proposes to investigate four on-site remediation methods for Svea and similar sites in cold climates. All four methods are easy to implement on site, entail low environmental impacts and make use of resources in Svalbard. The four methods are stabilization with Svalbard coal, stabilization and solidification, phytoremediation and electrodialytic remediation. The remediation efficiency of stabilising PFAS/PBDE and using low intensity electric current to remove PFAS/PBDE from the environment will be investigated.