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  1. Queen Mary University of London
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  5. Postgraduate Research Student Funding Opportunities
  6. Leverhulme Living With Waste Doctoral Programme
  7. Projects and Supervisors
  8. 2026 4-year call
  9. Turning waste into magnetic carbon for PFAS soil remediation

Turning waste into magnetic carbon for PFAS soil remediation

 

Waste-derived magnetic activated carbon for PFAS capture and carbon recovery from contaminated soils

Lead Supervisor: Edo Boek

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Degree Programme: School of Engineering and Materials Science (SEMS)

Co-Supervisors:

Salvatore Grasso (SEMS)

Szymon Doszczeczko (SEMS)

Project Description

Can waste wood and iron residues become reusable materials for cleaning up PFAS-contaminated soils? PFAS, often called 'forever chemicals', persist in the environment and can migrate into water. This PhD combines materials chemistry and environmental engineering in three stages.

  1. Synthesis of magnetic carbon You will prepare and characterise magnetic activated carbons from sawdust and steel mill scale, benchmarking them against materials made from commercial carbon and iron salts. You will examine how pore structure, iron content and feedstock impurities affect adsorbent performance and metal leaching.
  2. PFAS capture Controlled experiments will establish how these properties affect PFAS uptake across contrasting soils and PFAS chain lengths. Tests with soil slurries, supported by transport modelling, will explore capture under conditions relevant to soil treatment.
  3. PFAS destruction, carbon recovery and reuse You will investigate magnetic recovery of the loaded carbon, supported by magnetic-force modelling. Recovered carbon will then undergo hydrothermal alkaline treatment in specialist reactors. PFAS analysis and fluorine balances will distinguish pollutant transfer from destruction. Repeated capture, recovery and treatment cycles will test whether the carbon retains the adsorption and magnetic properties needed for reuse. You will also identify residues requiring management. 

Life cycle and techno-economic assessments will compare routes at equivalent remediation endpoints, accounting for energy, water, chemicals and secondary residues. Engagement with remediation practitioners will connect laboratory findings with practical treatment needs and constraints. You will work with Dr Edo Boek, Dr Salvatore Grasso and Dr Szymon Doszczeczko in QMUL's School of Engineering and Materials Science, with scope to shape the research around your strengths and interests. Through the programme's interdisciplinary Waste School, you will examine who pays for treatment and how costs and residual risks affect access to remediation. You will assess whether this use of waste offers a net environmental benefit.

What we're looking for in a student

We welcome applicants with a degree in chemical or environmental engineering, chemistry, materials science or a related discipline. Applicants must meet SEMS PhD entry requirements. This primarily experimental project suits someone who enjoys laboratory work and quantitative problem-solving. We value careful experimental practice, curiosity and a willingness to learn modelling and work across disciplines. Experience in synthesis, adsorption, analytical chemistry or coding is useful; prior PFAS expertise is not essential. Training will cover carbon preparation and characterisation, PFAS adsorption and analysis, magnetic separation, transport modelling, and life cycle and techno-economic assessment. You will develop these skills through your research and the interdisciplinary Waste School.

 

Key words: PFAS; magnetic activated carbon; soil remediation; waste valorisation; sustainability

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