Oxyle raises cash for PFAS destruction

The Swiss start-up Oxyle has raised $16 million to further its technology for destroying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. The scientists Fajer Mushtaq and Silvan Staufert founded Oxyle in 2020 while they were at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich. In the firm’s process, PFAS adsorbs on a nanoporous piezoelectric catalyst, which is then activated to create transient surface charges. The charges generate reductive and oxidative species that break down PFAS into harmless mineral constituents, the firm says. Oxyle’s goal is to treat 100 million m 3 of contaminated water in the next 5 years.