A new hybrid technology blasts toxic "forever chemicals" with high-frequency sound waves while bacteria digest the leftovers. PFAS chemicals, used in non-stick pans, waterproof clothing, and firefighting foams, do not break down naturally and accumulate in water and soil, where they can harm human health. Existing treatments are incomplete: ultrasound can fully destroy one type of PFAS but not another, while microbes do the reverse. This project combines both approaches so that each method handles what the other misses. If the synergy works, the team will build a platform that also recovers energy and resources from the waste stream. The result could be a sustainable, energy-efficient way to clean contaminated groundwater and industrial wastewater—systems that quietly protect drinking water supplies. The project also develops new mass spectrometry tools for analysing complex PFAS mixtures, which could improve environmental monitoring and single-cell bacterial analysis. This is applied engineering research with a clear environmental endpoint. Success would mean moving from partial PFAS removal to complete mineralisation—turning persistent pollutants into harmless fluoride, carbon dioxide, and water.
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VISION: Our vision is to demonstrate a novel hybrid technology combining high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) (sono) and microorganisms (bio) for the treatment of persistent organic pollutants. A new synergy is proposed from simultaneous microbial and HFUS action, created through complementary degradation methods and enhanced microbial metabolism in HFUS fields. BACKGROUND: The sono-bio process will be demonstrated on per-and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS don't fully degrade naturally so they persist in the environment and can be toxic to animals and humans. Biological mineralisation i.e. breakdown PFAS to fluoride ions, carbon dioxide and water has not been realised. Rather, microbial degradation tends to be efficient for a subset of PFAS, known as poly-FAS and result in production of per-FAS. Sonolysis, via HFUS, (100-1000 kHz) is one of few technologies able to fully mineralise PFAS. However, sonolysis is most effective for per-FAS rather than poly-FAS. We hypothesise that a combination of ultrasonic and microbial treatments working in synergy, will deliver sustainable and efficient treatment for complete PFAS remediation. INTERDISCIPLINARY AIMS: At the University of Surrey (UoS) we will research HFUS parameters and the composition and function of microbial communities to identify a system that will work synergistically to simultaneously i) enhance microbial breakdown poly-FAS to per-FAS, and ii) mineralise per-FAS via HFUS. Resource and energy recovery will be achieved by combination of the sono-bio process with a bioelectrochemical cell. New analytical tools will be used to provide mechanistic understanding and novel insight into HFUS in solutions that contain microbes and microbial metabolism in HFUS. Concurrent elucidation of mechanisms is required to fully capitalise on potential synergy from combining treatments from two different disciplines. Objectives (O) include: O1: Research interaction of HFUS, microbial growth and PFAS degradation. O2: Research the sono-bio process in real waste samples using microbial communities. O3: Engineer a platform combining sono-bio-(electro) processing for resource/energy recovery. O4: Apply new analytical tools to research PFAS degradation and microbial mechanisms. POTENTIAL APPLICATION AND BENEFITS: The sono-bio-(electro) process has potential IP generation and subsequent translation for wider remediation (e.g. persistent pollutants, soil regeneration) and bioprocessing (e.g. fermentation, biosynthesis). New mass spectrometry (MS) tools resulting from the interdisciplinary approach, will be researched. These new analytical tools will translate to other complex PFAS mixtures, environmental contaminations, and single-cell analysis for bacteria.
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