If I had a dollar for every time the world was going to end, or some modern technology or other was gonna roon us all, I’d be rich enough to vote Greens. Peak oil, global cooling, nuclear winter, Y2K, yellow rain, acid rain… the list is endless. Mostly because they keep making up new ones every time the last one flops. As the old Not Only, But Also “End of the World” sketch put it, “We must get a winner some day, lads.”
The climate change panic is finally showing signs of winding down and biodiversity never really gripped the public imagination. ‘Forever Chemicals’, step up.
Nearly all coastal waters and more than half of rivers in some European countries contain elevated levels of chemicals that will never break down.
You mean, the dreaded ‘dihydrogen monoxide’?! No, this time it’s per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Now, these chemicals are pretty useful: used to make products resistant to heat, stains, grease and water. But their usefulness is directly related to their strong carbon-fluorine bonds, which is what stops them breaking down easily once they’re ‘in the wild’, so to speak.
Are they a problem? Maybe.
There is limited evidence of harmful effects from exposure to PFAS. Some studies have found associations between people exposed to specific PFAS chemicals and increased cholesterol and uric acid levels in the blood, reduced kidney function, an increased risk of testicular and kidney cancer and more. But, as the Australian government’s health advice notes, an ‘association’ to health outcomes does not confirm a direct cause.
Still, if it’s possible to easily and safely eliminate artificial compounds from entering the environment, it’s generally a good thing to do. A Swiss startup claims to have developed a piezoelectric catalyst that eliminates 99 per cent of PFAS from wastewater streams, thus preventing them from entering water supplies.
On 30 January, Zurich-based Oxyle announced it had raised US $16 million to scale up its technology and deploy its first commercial units, which aim to eliminate the chemicals from industrial wastewater. Oxyle last year built and began operating its first full-scale system at a contaminated site in Switzerland […]
Finding cost-effective ways to reduce PFAS on a large scale has proven challenging, in part because of the energy required to break down the persistent chemicals.
Previous efforts have focused on extracting PFAS from water, rather than destroying them altogether. But these not only use significant amounts of energy, they still leave behind barrels of potentially toxic sludge.
Oxyle aims to address these shortcomings. The company’s approach electrochemically breaks down PFAS into their chemical constituents such as carbon dioxide and fluorides, which then exit wastewater streams. “Instead of simply filtering PFAS, our solution actively degrades and mineralizes broad-spectra PFAS into harmless byproducts, eliminating the need for polluting, costly, and complex secondary waste management,” says [Fajer Mushtaq, CEO and cofounder of Oxyle].
To achieve this, Oxyle uses a nanoporous material coated with a piezoelectric catalyst that offers a massive surface area for immobilizing PFAS. When water flows across the material, the piezoelectric effect generates electrical charges. This triggers reduction and oxidation reactions that gradually degrade PFAS into their harmless compounds. For example, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), a type of PFAS, gets broken down into fluoride ions (F-), sulfate ions (SO42-), and carbon dioxide (CO2).
The process is also much more energy efficient. A full-scale unit, treating 10 cubic metres of water per hour, consumed less that one kilowatt-hour per cubic metre. The energy efficiency is achieved by using the flow of water rather than electricity to activate the reaction.
Several key innovations make this possible. The system’s activation method harnesses the kinetic energy of turbulent water flow to generate localized electrical potentials. This drives the same chemical processes as passing PFAS-laden water through an array of electrodes – but without the need for external electrical input beyond powering the pump.
And how well does it work?
In an environmental remediation case study, Oxyle’s catalytic approach removed more than 99 per cent of PFAS, according to the company. Mushtaq says Oxyle can integrate its system into any wastewater stream without significantly altering infrastructure. The system doesn’t require any specialized adaptations, and the design uses standard engineering interfaces and connections, she says. The company plans to deploy an advanced version of its commercial units for treating complex industrial wastewater later this year.
Oxyle is currently conducting tests at pilot sites, which incorporate an AI-driven monitoring technology using multiple sensors to regulate treatment in real time.
Which is all well and good, until the robot overlords develop a sense of prankster humor and start feeding LSD or something into the water supplies.
