‘Current solutions aren’t really effective’

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

‘Current solutions aren’t really effective’

A visit to a water treatment plant

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

a pair of Texas teenagers to develop a device to filter one of the most pervasive forms of toxic waste of modern times: microplastics.

As

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

by Business Insider, Victoria Ou and Justin Huang, who have been friends since elementary school, won $50,000 from the Gordon E. Moore Award for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations after showcasing their ultrasonic microplastics filter.

The duo revealed their device in May at the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

in Los Angeles in a remarkable display of young innovators working on projects to benefit humanity.

Ou and Huang, both 17,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Insider that they initially connected over their interest in environmental issues, but their visit to the water treatment plant was when the light bulb went off regarding their ISEF project. There, they discovered that the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t regulate microplastics, meaning they remain in our wastewater.

While microplastics are often undetectable at less than five millimeters in length, one study from Australia’s University of Newcastle

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

the average person ingests a credit card’s worth of plastic every week. And researchers believe this is having a big impact on our health, linking the particles to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, dementia, reproductive disorders, and organ *********.

Microplastics have been found in the ocean depths, on the highest mountain peaks, and also in our drinking water, spurring researchers on a quest for solutions as

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

work to reduce their use of plastic.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

However, while existing microplastic removal methods have shown promise, Huang suggested they have their limitations, including high cost and the potential for contamination.

“We wanted to find a solution to this because current solutions aren’t really effective,” Huang

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Insider.

To help address the aforementioned filtering issues, Huang and Ou used ultrasound waves that pushed microplastics back without impeding the flow of water. According to a Society for Science

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, this method eliminated 84-94% of microplastics.

In the future, the pair aim to scale up their technology as an affordable and efficient method of removing microplastics at industrial plants, rural water sources, and more. Meanwhile, a smaller device could filter water at home on laundry days.

“I hope we just are able to be able to scale this up, but first we have to refine it because this technology is still at its infancy,” Huang

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Insider after Ou highlighted a previous ultrasound study that also didn’t filter 100% of microplastics.

Join our

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don’t miss

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Current #solutions #arent #effective

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up