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Phosphate Recovery from Livestock Wastewater Using Iron Oxide Nanotubes (INTs)

Hoengseong County of South Korea, where Korean Minjok Leadership Academy is located, is the hub of Korean livestock indu...

What can we gain by using grey water?

This project statistically verifies what economic and water savings are possible in schools and households by reusing ra...

Water Wastage a Thing of a Past

South Africa has a problem of water scarcity and water wastage is very high in our schools and communities. Water is was...

The Local Environment’s Impact on the Morphology of Zostera Marina Plants

This study investigated how the morphology of Zostera marina plants differ in regards to their leaf lengths and root ...

A Heavy Metal Extraction Process to Clean Contaminated Water Using Tannin-Embedded Biopolymers

Throughout developing and developed countries, the proliferation of mining and smelting operations continues to occur. This industry is crucial to the economic development and states of nations across the globe. This impact includes contamination of surrounding bodies of fresh drinking water with heavy metals. To scientifically address this concern, an eco-friendly biopolymer was embedded with mechanically isolated tannins from oak leaves. The biopolymer was then used to extract sample heavy metals from contaminated water. The results were measured using the change in mass, change in clarity, change in concentration of metal in water, and the effects on radish seedling germination. It was found that using a tannin-embedded biopolymer is an economically and eco-friendly way to remove heavy metals from water....

A Novel Method of Monitoring the Health of our Global Fresh Water Supply using DNA Barcoding of Chironomidae (Diptera)

It is forecast that 66% of our population will experience water scarcity within a decade, leaving us more dependent on surface water for drinking. This requires more filtration infrastructure, and more monitoring of surface water. Current methods rely on expensive and technically challenging manual identification of biological samples. Macroinvertebrates spend their larval lives within a small area of water, showing cumulative effects of habitat alteration and pollutants that chemical testing and field sensors do not. Chironimidae are a global common denominator. DNA Barcoding of Chironomidae results in more accurate and precise waterway health data, adding significant value for monitoring scarce water resources. The learnings from these data are being applied building microbiology capability at a nonprofit scientific water study institute. ...

FLOCUNAT: NATURAL FLOCCULANT

A method for family households is employed to obtain drinking water from river water by treating it with seeds of Moringaoleifera lam. The seeds will eliminate the river water turbidity. Subsequent heat or chemical disinfection is needed. The number of seeds used is adjusted to the water turbidity by a self-designed dispenser. In the tests carried out, after its application, the results obtained were found within the limits indicated for drinking water....

Growing Plants, Growing Minds with Educational Aquaponics Systems

The project emphasizes the need of innovative solutions to the problem of water management and water protection. Young people long for a more enjoyable, more practical, experience-based education. Both problems can be tackled at the same time by the cultivation of educational aquaponics systems, which provides teenagers with the opportunity to acquire versatile knowledge by experimental learning while increasing their environmental awareness with water management and protection in the focus. The student designed an educational aquaponics system, which proved to be capable of functioning....

A comprehensive assessment of drinking water quality in Kondopoga, Kareliya

A survey of Kondopoga residents showed that they preferred to drink spring water and bottled water, because it looked more transparent than tap water. This study confirmed that even visibly clear water might contain a lot of bacteria and unwanted chemicals in concentrations above the prescribed MPLs. The safest source of drinking water continues to be the tap water. Activity of daphnia may serve as an indicator of chemical pollution. Utilization of daphnia is economically profitable, because it costs almost 40 times less than a complex analysis of water quality. Publications in local newspaper “New Kondopoga”, along with posting of public information boards near the springs, help to build up awareness of local residents about water quality....

A Novel Approach for Purifying Contaminated Drinking Water using Carbon Aerogel Electrodes Synthesized from Thermoplastic Waste

The major emphasis of this study was to develop rapid, portable and highly-effective water purification device via capacitive deionization for on-spot water remediation with minimal energy consumption. The single-pass filtration experiments conducted at 1.2 V through the gravitational force demonstrated that the electrode fabricated from PET carbon aerogels and mixed plastic carbon aerogels is superiorly efficient by eliminating approximately 100% and 93.53% of both NaCl and As (5+) contaminants ions across a wide range of feedstock concentrations (50-1000 ppm) respectively, where the reverse osmosis system was proven relatively ineffective. This interdisciplinary study opens numerous possibilities for generating potable and affordable water when the access to electrical power is inadequate with protecting the ecosystem from the consequences of thermoplastic debris problem....

Fabrication and Performance of Alginate Based Water Capsules as an Eco-friendly Means of Agricultural Water Supply

This study is focused on developing a water capsule to tackle drought, decreasing the water wasted from agriculture. By burying small capsules that steadily eject water near the roots, the immense amount of water that evaporates after being sprayed on crops can be saved. This study first discusses the method of fabricating sphere-shaped alginate capsules, involving ice balls. Alginate is a polymer that can form membranes by cross-linking with divalent cations. Then it determines the ideal composition and concentration of the alginate membrane using Young's modulus comparisons to measure the stiffness. Experiments were conducted to measure the discharged water over time for each type of capsule. ...

Extremophile organisms for improving water Quality: A binational problem.

In this project we present a study of the polluted water from two important water bodies in the Mexico-USA border: Lake Salton Sea (California) and Mexicali’s Lagoon (Baja California). We analyze the reaction of extremophile microorganisms (tardigrades) to pollution in order to evaluate its possible use as bioindicators of water quality. We have found that the resistance properties of tardigrades to extreme conditions become them excellent candidates to use them in polluted environment studies. Based on the tardigrades survival in the samples water, our results show that pollution is higher in Salton Sea than Mexicali’s Lagoon. Also we propose a nanotechnological solution for this problem using extremophiles unique capabilities....

Evaporative desalination with industrial waste heat

One of mankind’s biggest threats is the ever growing water shortage. One way to solve this is cleaning seawater. Today 330 million people get their water from desalination plants, but conventional desalination is both expensive and energy demanding. Therefor I have developed a new way to desalinate seawater by utilizing water’s evaporative properties together with industrial waste heat, reducing the cost of cleaning 1000 liters of water to just 0.06€. Industries use 20% of freshwater around the globe so self sustaining factories through my invention would be a huge step towards securing the water supply in the future. I’m currently leading a full-scale pilot project in Sweden capable of cleaning 40.000 liters/day with a local smeltery.0...

Eliminating microplastics from bodies of water by using an innovative system

It is reasonably certain that microplastics are the most dangerous pollutants of plastic for aquatic organisms and humans. Thus far, there is not yet a large-scale system in place to eliminate microplastics from major bodies of water. In this report we describe different developmental phases of one such design and suggest possible applications. It is named ‘The Banana’, and takes its name from its distinctive shape. ...