Life cycle perspective on remediation of contaminated sediments in the Baltic Sea Region

Background/Problem
Baltic Sea has many “hot-spots” with highly contaminated sediments in ports, estuaries etc. Human activities often take place in coastal areas and are therefore affected by these “hot-spots”. Activities e.g. development, maintenance and dredging in ports and fairways due to more deep-draught ships imply a great deal of dredging activities in contaminated sediments. How to handle contaminated sediments is however a major dilemma. Alternatives are few, costly and require complicated technical methods to reduce environmental impact. Dredged sediments are normally deposited on land or at sea. The first is very costly and the latter is often not possible due to environmental restrictions. Emerging treatment technologies make it possible to consider beneficial use of contaminated sediments.

However, in order to take more sustainable decisions on remediation techniques in the future a life cycle perspective on environmental impacts and cost is needed. Such life cycle approach to sustainable decision on contaminated sediments is largely missing today.

The master thesis will be carried out within an international project, financed by the Baltic Sea Region Program. Actors involved in the projects are Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Luleå University of Technology, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Coastal Research and Planning Institute of Klaipeda University, Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg and several harbours around the Baltic Sea.

Aim
The aim of the projects is to study remediation techniques for contaminated sediments from a lifecycle perspective. The study can be approach by a life cycle perspective on environmental impacts and/or a life cycle perspective on costs.

Method
The study is carried out by; Problem formulation and choice of object/objects; inventory and theory, analysis and evaluation, discussion and conclusion.

Outcome
The study is expected to help the development of sustainable decision support tools for handling of contaminated sediments.