Start-up in the fight against "forever chemicals": revolutionary technology completely destroys PFAS
Interview with the founder: Oxyle
Who is Oxyle and what does the Swiss start-up do? In an interview, Dr. Fajer Mushtaq, CEO & Co-founder of Oxyle, answers all of chemie.de's questions. Thank you very much for that!
Dr. Fajer Mushtaq
(c) Daniel Kunz, danielkunzphoto.com, Adliswil, Switzerland
Who are you and where do you come from?
Oxyle is a cleantech company that was founded in Zurich in 2020 by Dr. Silvan Staufert and myself. We have developed the world's first economical, sustainable and permanent solution for the destruction of PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances), also known as "forever chemicals".
What challenge does Oxyle solve? What is your big vision?
Oxyle addresses the global problem of PFAS contamination by providing solutions that completely and cost-effectively remove PFAS from water resources. Our big vision is to ensure clean water for all and to remove PFAS from the environment in a sustainable and efficient way to protect people's health and the environment.
How did you come up with the idea?
The idea for Oxyle was born during my doctoral thesis at ETH Zurich. As a child in northern India, I experienced water scarcity first-hand, which made me realize the importance of clean water. These formative experiences, combined with Silvan's and my PhD thesis and our drive to make a difference, inspired us to found Oxyle.
What was your development process like? What were the biggest challenges and setbacks? What were the biggest successes?
The development process began with validating the technology in laboratory experiments and soon led to our first large-scale implementation via long-term pilot projects in the field. One of our biggest challenges was to penetrate an often conservative and slow-moving industry where it can take years - if not decades - for new technologies to be accepted. At PFAS, however, we simply have no time to waste. We have focused on gaining the trust of our customers and integrating our innovative catalyst into proven water treatment processes to accelerate adoption and eliminate fears.
Our biggest achievements today include several successful, long-term pilot projects across Europe. One outstanding success is our pilot project for an industrial park, where we removed over 99 percent of all PFAS from contaminated groundwater, with an energy consumption of less than 1 kW/hm³. Building on this success, we will now carry out the first large-scale implementation with a customer this fall.
What was the reaction from the market and the industry?
The market response has been overwhelmingly positive. With increasing pressure from governments and the public to eliminate PFAS, our technology is gaining traction. Companies are actively and urgently looking for solutions to help them manage PFAS contamination effectively, easily and cost-efficiently.
Would you go down this path again - or is there anything you would do differently?
Looking back over the last four and a half years, I can say with confidence that we would go down this path again. Our mission to provide clean water to the world is what originally set us on this path, and it's the same thing that drives us today. This commitment has not changed.
Of course, no start-up journey is without challenges, and we have experienced our share of them. But every obstacle has been a great learning opportunity, and we are better off now precisely because of the lessons learned. If we could do things differently, we might have built our leadership team even earlier. Initially, we focused heavily on developing the technology, but we delayed bringing leaders into the team who could help us build the business. The past year has been particularly transformative thanks to them, and I can only imagine where we would be today if they had joined us earlier.
What can others learn from your start-up story?
My advice to all founders: Always hire the right team. Our success is solely down to the commitment, drive and expertise of our team members - that is the most important factor in what we have achieved.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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