PFAS Phytoremediation

Overview

This 3-hectare site, owned by a project developer, lies at the heart of a PFAS risk area due to its proximity to former firefighting training grounds and nearby industrial activities, which have caused PFOS and PFOA contamination in both the topsoil and groundwater. At the same time, we are at the border of nature and agriculture. This unique region, surrounded by nature, agriculture, and industry, offers both challenges and opportunities to integrate these seemingly dual objectives of expanding economic activities and ensuring a healthy living environment. Using nature based solutions, like phytoremediation, we aim to mitigate pollution risks of further PFAS spreading while simultaneously enhancing biodiversity within the region. In this way, remediation and ecological management reinforce one another, while still allowing space for redevelopment and the economic ambitions of the project developer.

What we did

• Screened hemp genotypes for fast growth and root development, collected soil and plant samples.
• Monitored responses using PFAS soil analyses and PFAS plant analyses.

Outcomes

• 4 % (border) to 95% (center of the plot) reductions in PFAS concentrations in the top soil.
• Reduced PFAS spread from topsoil through stabilization by 3 million hemp plants.
• A clear scale-up plan with field implementation.

This project ties desktop work with practical field testing to make contaminated soils cleaner and safer, supporting sustainable land use, hand in hand with site redevelopment and economic valorization.