Henrik Hagemann is the CEO and co-founder of Puraffinity. Puraffinity is a GreenTech Company that designs smart materials for environmental applications. As you may have discovered by Season 4, Episode 1, they strive to solve the daunting PFAS / Forever chemicals challenge we face.

We all have PFAS in our blood, and this for quite a simple reason: forever chemicals are everywhere around us. For the better and, let's face it, often the worse, we use PFAS in so many parts of our daily lives that it would be almost impossible to ban them. 

This wouldn't be much of a problem if they weren't that toxic: I know, thank you, captain obvious. 

Yet, PFAS also confronts the Water Sector with a complex equation to solve. On the one hand, we'd like to protect everyone from toxic substances, and with the advancement of technology, we can, but on the other hand, doing so is still prohibitively expensive today if we were to do it on a large scale. 

Sure, promising new ways might change the name of the game; we've, for instance, discussed on that microphone how supercritical water oxidation could eliminate PFAS and everything else theoretically in an even energy-positive fashion. But we're still far from the large scale today.

Let's pause here for a second and apply some advice we heard here a while ago from Claudia Winkler and Alice Schmidt: let's zoom out before we zoom in. We need PFAS in so many of the products we use, so we produce PFAS. And then, we realize more and more how dangerous they are, so we destroy PFAS. And the cycle goes on.

Don't you think there may be a better way? Well, that's what we'll explore today with Henrik. And he'll do that much better than me, so I won't spoil you with what he explains so well!

I'll let you buckle up for a fascinating 360-degree update on PFAS, where we discuss regulations, recycling, new treatments and their limits, perspectives, and even Erin Brockovich! And remember, if you like what you hear, please share that episode around you. Send it to a friend, a colleague, or your LinkedIn network; come one, do it, and I'll meet you on the other side!

Should We Really Destroy PFAS? No! Your Fridge Knows a Better Way.