Soil remedation & land regeneration
Nature-based solutions that stabilise PFAS pollution, restore soil quality and turn remediated land into a source of bio-based building materials.
Hemp is able to stabilize PFAS-contaminated soil
PFAS contamination is a major environmental challenge in the Belgian region of Flanders, as well as in many other regions in Europe, Australia and the USA.
The conventional method of remediation involves excavating the contaminated soil and transporting it to specialised treatment facilities. They separate contaminants from the soil matrix, almost like washing machines.
While effective, this process is costly and typically removes the fine, biologically active components of the soil, leaving behind only cleaned sand and gravel fractions with little agricultural value. The remaining part is landfilled.
C-biotech has undertaken research into bio-based remediation approaches using hemp as a nature-based solution for PFAS-contaminated soils.
Research indicates that hemp can absorb and stabilise part of the PFAS present in the soil, with pollutants accumulating primarily in the plant leaves.
The stems of the plant remain largely pollution-free and can be processed into durable building materials.
Although this approach does not fully remove PFAS contamination from the soil and takes time, it offers a low-impact complementary stabilisation strategy that creates productive value for otherwise unusable land while gradually reducing PFAS concentrations over time through plant uptake and harvest.
This is different from all current end-of-pipe solutions that only come at a cost and lead to stalling action. This leads to further spreading of the PFAS to ground- and surface water, already creating problems for drinking water utilities.
The cultivation of hemp is highly sustainable: the crop require minimal water and pesticide use, while producing a large amount of biomass per hectare.
Hemp can grow up to 4 meters in a single year.
Beyond its pollutant stabilising effect, hemp contributes to carbon sequestration both in plant biomass and in the soil, improves soil structure, and enhances water infiltration.
Hemp plants can remove up to 9-15 tons of CO2 per hectare from the air in one growth season. Storing this in biobased materials offers another carbon sink.
Number of pilot projects with hemp for soil remediation: 10
What we learned from our PFAS remediation trials in 2025
Through Fytolutions, our collaboration with DEME Group, we ran a series of field trials in 2025. We tested the potential of industrial hemp and soil additives to remove PFAS from contaminated soil.
PFAS uptake in hemp plants occurred consistently across all trials, with the highest concentrations found in the leaves. The removal efficiency was variable, reflecting the complexity of PFAS-contaminated soils.
We also found that high spatial variability in PFAS distribution within soil significantly affects results, underlining the importance of careful soil homogenisation and robust sampling protocols.
The most promising finding was high uptake of short-chain PFAS, with concentrations in plant tissue reaching up to approximately 2,000 µg/kg for ultra-short-chain substance. This suggests that hemp can act as a meaningful sink for specific PFAS compound groups within broader, integrated remediation strategies.
Phytoremediation is not a complete answer to PFAS contamination, but these trials give us a stronger scientific foundation to build on, and we will continue refining the approach.
Therefore, we rather position it as a phytostabilisation option that reduces the further spreading into ground- and surface water.
Ex-situ remediation in greenhouses
Conventional PFAS remediation relies on excavation and soil washing, which leaves large volumes of unusable soil destined for landfill.
Our ex-situ approach works differently. Rather than treating soil where it lies, contaminated soil is brought into the controlled environment of a greenhouse, treated, restored, and returned to productive use.
This gives us precise control over the conditions that drive remediation — including temperature, moisture, light and soil conditions — enabling accelerated plant growth throughout the year and microbial activity compared to open-field phytoremediation. It is an example of process intensification.
The greenhouse system is fully closed: no contamination spreads, rainwater water is collected for irrigation and reused within the system, and the cultivation can continue year-round regardless of weather conditions.
While outdoor sowing in Flanders is only just beginning in May, hemp plants inside the pilot greenhouse have already grown to approximately one meter in height
No heavy machinery and energy-intensive incineration are needed. The soil structure and quality are preserved throughout, with full soil reuse as the end goal. The quality of the soil will actually improve due to the positive impact of hemp.
The pilot greenhouse, located in the Port of Ghent, was developed together by C-ground and C-biotech with OVMB, a subsidiary of Eiffage Construction BeLux.
The 100 m² facility holds 100 m³ of PFAS-contaminated soil in which industrial hemp is grown combined with soil additives that accelerate PFAS mobilisation and uptake, support soil life, and improve soil structure.
The greenhouse is divided into two independent compartments, allowing different treatment conditions to be tested side by side in order to identify the most effective remediation strategy.
This greenhouse is the first ex-situ phytoremediation greenhouse of its kind in Europe. If ongoing results confirm what early trials suggest, we intend to scale the approach for broader application across PFAS-contaminated sites.
The greenhouse officially opened in February 2026 in the presence of Flemish Minister of Agriculture and Environment Jo Brouns.
Earth+
Earth+ is a Cordeel Group company that combines soil science, AI, and nature-based approaches to restore degraded land and lock carbon into bio-based construction materials. It leverages nature and digital to restore Earth.
More than 52% of agricultural land worldwide is already degraded. Earth+ works to reverse that, connecting land restoration directly to economic opportunity for landowners, investors, and the construction sector. This fits into the EU soil monitoring law that entered into force in December 2025. Their work covers four areas.
Through land regeneration, they design tailored restoration pathways for degraded and polluted soils, including PFAS-contaminated sites.
The Earth+ Scan service uses AI and remote sensing to give landowners clear, data-driven insight into soil quality, vegetation health, erosion risk, and climate exposure, without requiring physical sampling. This high quality data can then be used to take more informed decisions as to how to restore the soil or avoid it from degrading.
On the carbon side, they help producers of bio-based construction materials certify their carbon credits through the Rainbow Registry, and broker those credits to organisations building credible carbon portfolios. Rather than merely offsetting, the narrative emphasizes the important co-benefit of initiating and supporting the transition of the construction sector from oil-based to biobased. This narrative was recognized by Deloitte and awarded a project in their Beyond the Value Chain Mitigation programme.
A digital platform developed by partner and shareholder Delaware bringing all of this together is under development, with the launch expected in Q3 2026.
Remediating heavily contaminated soil with microwaves
C-ground is utilising an eight-hectares water-bound facility in Zutendaal to store and remediate contaminated soil. Through the use of MEAM’s microwave technology, a new, 100% electric treatment method is being developed to remove organic pollutants, including mercury from heavily contaminated soils.
Find a video online: https://reports.cordeel.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/baros2a15_meam_def-1080p.mp4