Microbes hold potential in removing PFAS from recycled waste fertilizer
About half of all sewage waste in the U.S. is treated and converted to biosolids, a further half of which is used as fertilizer after additional processing.
"Forever chemicals" are everywhere—water, soil, crops, animals, the blood of 97% of Americans—researchers from Drexel University's College of Engineering are trying to figure out how they got there. Their recent findings suggest that the microbes that help break down biodegradable materials and other waste are likely complicit in the release of the notorious per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into the environment.
In a paper published in the journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, the group showed how PFAS—chemicals that had been widely used in water, heat and stain-resistant products and have been linked to serious health problems—can leach out of fertilizer made from recycled waste with the help of microbial decomposition. The finding could help to explain how PFAS accumulates in the soil, crops and groundwater in farmland across the country.