PubMed · 2026-07-21
Scientists have designed a low-cost way to clean toxic 'forever chemicals' out of farmland by growing plants that pull the contamination from soil, then burning that biomass into biochar that locks the pollution away and pulls carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in the process.
Alkaline rock amendment to manage soil pH accelerated PFOS removal, cutting remediation timelines by more than a decade under typical contamination levels
Pyrolyzing harvested plant biomass destroys PFAS and yields biochar that, when reapplied, substantially cuts leaching into groundwater
Scaled across roughly one million hectares of PFAS-impacted US cropland, the method could remove about 11 Mt CO2 per year (4-6% of the US 2050 carbon removal target) at a median cost of $1,460 per hectare per year, far below current remediation technologies