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by Karma Loveday

Government-backed researchers unveil "game-changing solution" to "forever" pollutants

Government-funded researchers have claimed to have developed a method that eliminates cancer-causing, near-indestructible chemical pollutants from water and could reduce the risk from infectious disease including Covid.

Chemical technology company, Puraffinity, has unveiled its production of granules that bind to hazardous pollutants in water to remove them in a range of settings. The adsorbent granules target per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) that are used globally in everyday products and contaminate food and drinking water supplies.


PFAS have been found by other researchers to impair the human immunological response and could reduce the effectiveness of Covid vaccines.


Puraffinity’s “game-changing solution” was accelerated after the company worked with the UK's institute for chemical and bio-measurement, the National Measurement Laboratory (NML).

The project was supported by grant funding programme, Analysis for Innovators, which is run by Innovate UK – part of the national research funding body, UK Research and Innovation. Puraffinity has since secured a £1.54m Innovate UK Continuity Loan to boost its UK manufacturing capability 20-fold to 5t a year.

London-based Puraffinity's chief executive officer, Henrik Hagemann, said the Analysis for Innovators programme had “transformed our business” by funding access to “cutting-edge research and development and expertise in materials science and creative engineering.”

Puraffinity said the critical bottleneck for its business was “gaining detailed insight and assurance on the product’s stability and safety.” It said partnering with the NML gave it access to vital equipment and sector expertise to speed up its development cycle. That access, it added, enabled it to provide prospective clients “assurance of the safety and the long-term stability of the products, a crucial element in commercialising public health innovations through water treatment.”

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