KIT Career ServiceStudierendeAbschlussarbeiten

Compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis of parent PAHs and OPAHs across Soil Horizons

Forschungsthema/Bereich
environmental chemistry, stable isotope analysis, organic pollutants
Typ der Abschlussarbeit
Master
Startzeitpunkt
02.11.2026
Bewerbungsschluss
01.12.2026
Dauer der Arbeit
-

Beschreibung

Oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OPAHs) are derivatives of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that originate either from primary combustion sources or through the microbial and photochemical transformation of parent PAHs. OPAHs are of particular concern due to their greater toxicity, persistence, and bioavailability than their parent PAHs.
Soil is the major sink of PAHs and OPAHs. During their residence in soil, these compounds undergo transport, sorption, degradation, and transformation processes that alter their concentrations. These processes are likely to affect the carbon isotope signatures (δ¹³C), but how they do so remains unclear. This master's thesis provides an opportunity to investigate δ¹³C of PAHs and OPAHs in mineral soil horizons (A and B) from soils, addressing the following main research question:

Do parent PAHs and their oxygenated derivatives exhibit systematic differences in concentration and compound-specific δ¹³C signatures between A and B soil horizons?

Voraussetzung

Voraussetzungen an Studierende
  • PAHs and OPAHs will be extracted from soil using an ASE 350, followed by cleanup, fractionation, and GC-MS analysis to determine compound concentrations. Based on concentration data, the two most abundant parent–OPAH pairs (9-Fluorenone and 9,10-Anthraquinone) will be selected for δ¹³C analysis using GC-C-IRMS (Thermo Scientific TRACE™ 1310 GC coupled to a Delta V™ Plus IRMS).

Studiengangsbereiche
  • Naturwissenschaften und Technik
    Geoökologie
  • Sonstiges z.B. Lehramt
    Chemie
    Naturwissenschaften und Technik


Betreuung

Titel, Vorname, Name
Dr. Nuria Basdediós
Organisationseinheit
Institute of Geography and Geoecology (IFGG)
E-Mail Adresse
nuria.basdedios@kit.edu
Link zur eigenen Homepage/Personenseite
Website

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E-Mail Adresse für die Bewerbung
Senden Sie die oben genannten Bewerbungsunterlagen bitte per Mail an nuria.basdedios@kit.edu


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