Kemira, a global player in sustainable chemical solutions for water-intensive industries, and CuspAI have announced a major breakthrough in the development of AI-designed materials aimed at removing PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals,” from drinking and process water. The companies stated that they successfully used generative artificial intelligence to design advanced materials capable of targeting PFAS contaminants at trace concentrations while ensuring the chemistry remains stable, sustainable, and commercially manufacturable.
AI Explores 300 Trillion Material Structures
As part of the materials discovery project, the AI platform explored an enormous design space of nearly 300 trillion possible material structures. The initiative generated more than 5,000 novel material designs with complete property data focused on three high-priority PFAS molecules — GenX, PFBS, and PFOS. Following extensive evaluation, the research teams narrowed the list to nearly 20 high-priority candidate materials, which are now moving into the next stage of development and validation. Notably, the entire discovery process reached this advanced stage within just six months, demonstrating the speed and efficiency of AI-driven materials innovation.
First Commercial Use of Generative AI for PFAS Remediation
According to the companies, this marks the first commercial partnership to apply generative AI end-to-end for the development of entirely new materials specifically designed for PFAS remediation. While several academic institutions and technology companies have previously used AI for materials screening, no earlier collaboration has reportedly used a fully generative approach to create completely new molecular structures from scratch based on industrial performance requirements. The companies highlighted that the project achieved both large-scale candidate generation and rapid discovery timelines, setting a new benchmark for AI-driven materials science applications.
Collaboration Accelerates Sustainable Water Treatment Innovation
Chad Edwards, CEO and Co-Founder of CuspAI, said the collaboration focused on solving one of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. He added that the partnership successfully delivered promising material candidates within six months and is already advancing into the next phase, with additional projects currently under discussion. According to him, the company’s goal is to significantly compress traditional discovery timelines for high-impact industrial and environmental challenges.
Industrial Validation Strengthens Commercial Potential
Sampo Lahtinen, Executive Vice President, Research and Innovation at Kemira, said the project combined Kemira’s extensive expertise in water treatment chemistry with CuspAI’s advanced AI-driven materials design capabilities. He noted that both teams worked closely to evaluate each material candidate against real-world industrial performance requirements, ensuring that the selected candidates offer strong commercial potential for future deployment.
AI-Driven Materials Could Transform PFAS Remediation
Antti Salminen, President and CEO of Kemira, said the partnership demonstrated how AI-driven materials design can accelerate innovation when combined with practical industrial requirements. He explained that the companies set highly demanding targets, including the development of materials capable of removing PFAS contaminants from water at extremely low concentrations while remaining sustainable and scalable for industrial manufacturing.
As per the press release, the collaboration has now established a credible pathway toward developing next-generation PFAS remediation technologies, while also opening opportunities for further joint innovation projects in advanced water treatment solutions.
