Process controlling P dynamics upon reductive transformation of P containing Fe minerals

ESR 6: Mingkai Ma

Supervisor: Dr. Thilo Behrends (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) / Co-supervisor: Dr. Andreas Voegelin (EAWAG, Switzerland)

Project description:ESR 6 will investigate the behaviour of phosphate  during the transformation of iron minerals in laboratory experiments . The goal is to develop deterministic models for describing and predicting the phosphate dynamics during the reduction or recrystallisation of phosphate-containing iron minerals. The results will be used to characterise and constrain the prerequisites for long-term binding of phosphate in lake sediments. She or he will  also contribute to studying the fate of phosphate during the reductive transformation of iron minerals in bioreactors. The project will be performed in close collaboration with Dutch and international partners and involves secondments at academic partners in the consortium but also at companies which are partner organizations in the P-TRAP project.

Secondments planned:

AQUAMIN: Application of Fe containing by-products to scavenge sulphide in bioreactors (3 months)

UNIVIE: Effect organic ligands on Fe mineral transformation (2 months)

UBT: Identification of Fe phases by Mössbauer spectroscopy (1 month)