A significant scientific and applied achievement of the Sofia University team within Clean&Circle was presented at the international conference “Kliment’s Days.” This work is part of the developments carried out under the Horizon 2020 project PROMISCES, involving 9 European countries and 27 institutions, including Sofia University through Clean&Circle. The research focuses on reducing the toxicity of landfill leachate, including leachate from the landfill cells of the Sofia Waste Treatment Plant.

These waters contain PFAS and a complex mixture of other toxic pollutants, making their treatment a major challenge. The development presents two innovative technological solutions: (1) reducing the toxicity of leachate through treatment with a DBD plasma source, which makes the water more amenable to subsequent purification; and (2) assessing overall toxicity using a modern bioindicator fluorescence-based method developed by the team.

The work has been carried out by a multidisciplinary expert group of biotechnologists, chemists, plasma technology specialists, and engineers working within Clean&Circle. Young researchers from the Master’s program in Environmental Biotechnology were also involved. Some of the results were presented in a poster session at the “Kliment’s Days” international conference by PhD candidate Maria Yotova, whose dissertation focuses on this promising technological topic within the Center of Competence. More information about the achievements of the international PROMISCES consortium can be found at: https://promisces.eu/

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