PFAS-Busting Bacteria Discovered By California Environmental Engineers
An environmental engineering team and the University of California, Riverside (UCR) has discovered a bacterial species that can destroy certain types of PFAS chemicals commonly found in waterproofing agents for outerwear and footwear.
Often referred to as “forever chemicals,” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have carbon-fluorine chemical bonds that are tough to break, contributing to their propensity to stick around when released into the environment. PFAS have contaminated water sources across the globe, endangering the ecology and surrounding communities.
More from Sourcing Journal
But researchers may have hit on the key to dismantling PFAS compounds. Microorganisms belonging to the genus Acetobacterium, which are commonly found in wastewater environments, can sever the bonds between carbon and fluorine and disassemble the chemical structures, the team reported this week in the Science Advances journal.
“This is the first discovery of a bacterium that can do reductive defluorination of PFAS structures,” Yujie Men, associate professor at UCR’s Bourns College of Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, told UCR’s public information office.
Men, one of the study’s authors, stressed that the bacteria were only found to be effective on unsaturated PFAS compounds, which feature double carbon-to-carbon bonds in their chemical structures. But the research team also pinpointed the specific enzymes (proteins that catalyze biochemical reactions) within the bacteria that facilitate the pulling apart off the carbon-fluoride bonds. That essential discovery may allow bioengineers to improve the enzymes over time so they demonstrate effectiveness on other PFAS compounds.
“If we can understand the mechanism, maybe we can find similar enzymes based on the identified molecular traits and screen out more effective ones,” said Men. “Also, if we can design some new enzyme or alter this known enzyme based on the mechanistic understanding, we could be able to make it more efficient and work with a broader range of PFAS molecules.”
The group’s research builds upon a paper Men wrote in 2023 which identified other microorganisms with the capacity to cleave the chlorine-chlorine bond in chlorinated PFAS compounds. She said the latest discovery expands the types of PFAS that can be destroyed using biological measures by a large margin.
The use of bacteria to destroy PFAS compounds is both efficacious and cost-effective, the group’s research showed. Microorganisms can break apart the compounds before water reaches wells in a process that involves injecting them into groundwater with nutrients to boost their proliferation, rather than treating water afterwards through industrial means.
The discovery comes at a critical time; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently imposed the first-ever federal PFAS restrictions for tap water, which will restrict certain PFAS chemicals to four parts-per-trillion in America’s drinking water.
California, Maine, Massachusetts and Minnesota have passed their own legislation banning the sale or distribution of products like carpets, rugs, fabric treatments, upholstered furniture and textiles using PFAS.
According to the EPA, PFAS compounds reached widespread use in the 1940s when companies began to heavily leverage their ability to resist water, oil and dirt. Over the decades, they’ve been deployed liberally in stain and water repellents for carpets, upholstery, clothing and other textiles.
The chemicals have been linked to cancers and other ailments, and researchers recently discovered evidence that they can be absorbed through the skin—a fact that was long disputed.
Solve the daily Crossword
