Orin Technologies

By Lydia Larsen

Tim Repas was tired of hauling dirt to landfills. As an environmental consultant in Canada’s oil fields, where the soil is often laden with health-harming petroleum hydrocarbon chemicals, Repas felt he spent too much time moving contaminated soil around and not enough time trying to eliminate the dangers posed by the compounds.

In 2019, he left the fields and put his degree in biochemistry to work, founding Fixed Earth Innovations, a company aimed at employing biological systems to address environmental challenges. One of the company’s first targets: The persistent and pervasive class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

PFAS are widely used, including in firefighting foam, stain and water-resistant coatings and food packaging, and are ubiquitous in the environment, making exposure almost impossible to avoid. Some types of PFAS have been linked to health defects including cancer, reproductive problems and birth defects.

Making PFAS even more problematic is the fact that they are considered virtually impossible to break down, earning the moniker “forever chemicals.”

“We could spend 20 years trying to solve [the problem], but I don’t think we have 20 years to solve PFAS,” said Repas said.

The need to find tools to address PFAS contamination in the United States was made more urgent last spring when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  announced new limits on two types of common PFAS in drinking water. Utilities required to meet these new standards are left to mostly rely on technologies that can remove PFAS from drinking water, but don’t actually destroy the compounds.

But researchers say hope is on the horizon. Emerging evidence suggests that microbes, small organisms invisible to the naked eye found in soil, air, water and even the human body, may be able to assist in breaking down PFAS.