Hunt for microbial degradation of fluorinated pollutants (PFAS)

PFAS (fluorinated chemicals) are recently acknowledged as an extremely urgent environmental problem. We are studying their microbial degradation to support the development of remediation technologies. The research is embedded in a programme that investigates microbial dehalogenation in a broad evolutionary context.

Competitive and toxic interactions during the anaerobic conversion of halogenated compounds

Remediation technolgies based upon anaerobic reductive dehalogenation have become state-of-the-art. The removal of complex mixtures is however still problematic. We are currently investigating the microbial and substrate interactions during chloroform and perchloroethene degradation in order to develop optimal scenario's for their simultaneous removal. Research methods include culture studies in the lab and mathematical modelling. The mathematical concepts are easily transferred to mixtures of different composition.