In 2016, Shneel Malik, a PhD student at the Bartlett School of Architecture,, I traveled all the way from England to India on government projects focused on tackling global challenges. Water pollutionThere she found that while local jewelers and textile workers use river and stream water heavily contaminated with cadmium, lead and arsenic, their own dyes only exacerbate the situation. I realized that it is. This is the starting point for Indus, an easy-to-assemble tile-powered system that allows the creation of walls that purify water flowing through it.Interesting facts about this passive purification system It is based on a low-cost, sustainable hydrogel made from microalgae and seaweed. The use of cheap ceramics allowed creators to keep costs down.
To purify water, they exploited a property of seaweed: bioremediation, the ability to reestablish the environment to its natural state by metabolizing or filtering toxic pollutants. After lab testing, we decided to use both microalgae and seaweed to create our tiles. However, these components are not the only natural elements of design. While doing computer simulations with seaweed, we found that the optimal structure is very similar to that of a plant leaf. Leaves have networks that are particularly well suited for distributing water and nutrients. The final design therefore resembles a prehistoric plant fossil. The veins on these tiles can be tweaked to filter out different types of heavy metals.
Another great advantage of Industile for water purification is the modular concept and the ability to use the tiles on top of existing structures. Any craftsman can assemble it on the spot with little prior training. Once the tiles are assembled vertically, users can simply pour contaminated water over the top. The water runs down and is filtered until it reaches the bottom. If the water is heavily polluted, water purification The process can be repeated several times.
self-sustaining rural community
this innovative technology projectBelonging to the Bartlett School’s Bio-Integrated Design Lab is still a work in progress.Currently these water purification wall It’s been efficient for two months, but Malik and her team are working to extend efficiency and implement an alert system to notify users when a tile is nearing the end of its useful life.In the long run, the goal of this Clean water project To provide rural communities in India with the tools to enable them to become self-reliant without the need for large investments in infrastructure. Along these lines, renewable energies such as photovoltaic panels are also poised to play an important role.
I’mnovation-Hub has already covered many of the promising uses of seaweed as a source of nutrients. innovative materials or renewable power generation system. Its applications are unlikely to run out.
sauce: first company
