The Trillion-Dollar Toxin: Navigating the New Regulations on PFAS

The Trillion-Dollar Toxin: Navigating the New Regulations on PFAS

From Liquid Assets by Ravi Kurani

November 25, 2025 · 37 min

About this episode

Ravi Kurani interviews Henrik Hagemann about the challenges and innovations in addressing PFAS contamination in water.

Is there a safe level of "forever chemicals" in your water? PFAS are everywhere: from the non-stick pans in your kitchen to the contact lenses in your eyes, and even 92% of strawberries. They are the "super chemistry" that modern society relies on, but they are also a toxic legacy that refuses to break down. In this episode, Ravi Kurani sits down with Henrik Hagemann , the potato farmer turned deep-tech entrepreneur who is solving this crisis at the molecular level. As the CEO and Co-founder of Puraffinity , Henrik is engineering smart materials that target and capture PFAS with sniper-like precision, preventing them from entering our waterways and bloodstreams. In this episode, we cover: The PFAS Reality Check: Why "forever chemicals" are found in everything from pesticides to waterproof jackets. Beyond Activated Carbon: How Puraffinity’s "Lego-like" material science outperforms traditional filtration by 7x. From Farm to Founder: Henrik’s journey from processing potatoes in Denmark to leading a Series A deep tech company in London. The Business of Water: Navigating the "Valley of Death" in hardware and selling to risk-averse…

People in this episode

Host: Ravi Kurani

Guest: Henrik Hagemann

Topics covered

  • PFAS
  • water safety
  • environmental regulations
  • material science
  • entrepreneurship
  • agriculture

Keywords

  • PFAS
  • forever chemicals
  • water filtration
  • Puraffinity
  • environmental impact
  • toxic legacy
  • material engineering

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Puraffinity

Places: Denmark, London

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