EMERGENCE

Compiled by Caryn Smith, IFN Chief Content Officer

IInternational Filtration News Explores Trending Innovation

n this new feature, IFN highlights significant research from universities and institutions around the world. If you are a part of a project you would like to highlight, email csmith@inda.org. Please write “IFN Emerging Research Submission” in your subject line in order to apply. Please send a completed press release and/or summary of the research as you would want it to be printed, a link to the university online story (if applicable), and all high resolution photographs/charts/graphs, short researcher bio(s). All selections could be edited for length.

Hamilton College

Students’ Business Wins Grand Prize in Statewide Competition

Report by Meg

Keniston

Ellie Sangree ’24 arrived at Hamilton determined to find a way to remove nitrogen pollution from bodies of water, diminishing its effect on water systems nationwide. When she invented the NutriFilterTM, a device that accomplishes that goal in 2022, one of the first people she told was her friend and classmate, Jesse Wexler ’24.

Since then, Sangree and Wexler have teamed up and combined their respective science and business acumen to revolutionize the future of clean water. Their business, Eutrobac LLC, recently earned the grand prize out of 340 student teams and $27,500 in prize money at the 2024 New York Business Plan Competition.

Neutralizing Nitrogen’s Impact on Lakes and Ponds

According to the Eutrobac co-founders, nitrogen pollutes more than 50% of the water in the U.S. Much of that nitrogen comes from fertilizer use, which is necessary to feed the growing global population.

“The Green Revolution enabled us to feed way more people than we ever could before, and we needed a lot of nitrogen to do that,” Sangree says. “This is just a result of feeding more people and producing more food. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to eat.”

But when nitrogen reaches bodies of water like lakes and ponds, it has dire effects through a process called eutrophication, which involves nutrients accumulating in a body of water, causing increased growth of microorganisms – such as algal blooms – that deplete the water of oxygen.

“[Eutrophication] contaminates drinking water, ruins ecosystems, and spoils recreational water for swimmers,” Wexler explains. According to the National Institutes of Health, too much nitrogen in drinking water can cause cancer, congenital disabilities, or other adverse health effects both in humans and livestock.

Most systems for removing nitrogen from water are costly. Sangree knew there had to be a sustainable and costeffective way to help curtail this problem. In a story featured in the Spring 2022 issue of Hamilton magazine, Sangree, an environmental studies major, described her initial vision for her contraption – a solar-powered, floating treatment wetland system made from recycled materials that was smaller and cheaper than anything currently available.

“The idea behind the floating bed that I’ve designed and built is that within the bed, I’m creating conditions that encourage the growth of the bacteria associated with turning this fertilizer pollution into a less harmful form,” she said during the 2021 interview.

During the summer of 2022, the device finally worked.

Eutrobac’s Green Dream Team

Sangree originally planned to find an interested investor or company and sell her technology. After reading about Sangree’s work in the Hamilton magazine, Reed Pugh ’86 contacted her and got her thinking that this might be a viable business venture for her to pursue. Wexler, who has had a knack for identifying great business opportunities since he was a kid, saw the same potential.

“I told her that she could try to sell this technology that isn’t developed yet but has incredible potential, or she could spend a few years developing it herself, which would be more exciting. And she agreed,” Wexler says.

Sangree knew Wexler, an interdisciplinary studies major focused on rhetoric, had plenty of business experience. He spent his gap year as a founding team member of a now multimillion-dollar company, Bond Sports. Together, Sangree and Wexler devised the name of the company – Eutrobac, inspired by the process they are working to eliminate – and the device, NutriFilterTM. Since then, they have secured the IP, facilitated hundreds of customer discovery interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the different industries that might be interested in the technology, conducted additional market research, and filed an application for a utility patent, which is pending.

“Jesse and I work really well together,” Sangree says. “I take care of the science side, whereas Jesse is the business powerhouse. At this stage, it’s been figuring out the science and then the business strategy side by side.”

The Helpful Hamilton Network

One of the most critical milestones in getting Eutrobac and the NutriFilterTM ready for prime time came when Sangree least expected it: attending a Common Ground event on campus.

“It was about a week before I would have lost my claim to the technology, as I had publicly disclosed it at a conference a year prior, and I was losing hope that we could patent it in time,” Sangree explains. “Stu Ingis [’93] just happened to be moderating the event, and after he introduced himself as someone who owned a patent law firm and cared about the environment, I approached him, introduced myself, and gave him a little elevator pitch. He agreed to get one of his patent attorneys to handle our case right there on the spot. It was really a miraculous thing. That was a financial barrier that would’ve been impossible for us.”

Ingis is one of many Hamiltonians –from professors and mentors to alumni and staff – whom Wexler and Sangree credit with helping them get Eutrobac off the ground. When Sangree first mentioned the idea for her research to Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Aaron Strong, he ensured she could bring her idea to life with help from retired Professor of Geosciences Todd Rayne and Professor of Biology Mike McCormick, who also played integral roles.

Sangree found support for her research from all corners of College Hill. Grounds & Fleet Operations Manager Mike Jasper, a member of the Facilities Management team, helped Sangree move items and get the appropriate permissions needed to set up her experiments and anchor the prototype in a College-owned reservoir about two miles from campus. “We couldn’t have done this without him and his support,” Wexler says.

Director of Outdoor Leadership Andrew Jillings procured materials for Sangree and gave her a kayak to use. At the same time, Science Technician Tom Freeland, Machinist Technician Walt Zarnoch, and Sciences Instrumentation Technician Bruce Wegter helped her build much of the technology.

As Sangree and Wexler continued developing their business, another supportive Hamilton graduate they connected with during this venture, entrepreneur Martin Casstevens ’80, encouraged them to enter the annual New York Business Plan Competition, which promotes entrepreneurial opportunities for college students who pitch business plans to seasoned investors.

A Big Win at the New York Business Plan Competition

award recipient in the Safety, Power & Mobility category before being selected as the overall grand prize winner for the competition.

“Our competition was tough,” Wexler says, noting “really impressive” rival pitches such as technology that can deliver vaccinations without needle intrusion and recruiting software that uses AI to help companies hire new employees. “I believe we won because what Ellie invented is really impressive and incredible and because we were able to articulate our competency on the subject with clarity.”

“I was very impressed by the other teams,” Sangree adds. “It was cool to see research from other colleges resulting in all of these new technologies and businesses.”

Sangree and Wexler won $27,500 in total prize money between the four rounds, which will help bolster the startup’s growth. The competition will also connect them with mentors and industry leaders throughout the ecosystem of innovators from the Upstate Capital Association of New York, the event’s sponsoring organization.

What’s Next for Eutrobac?

The duo faced stiff competition as they made their way through the four rounds of the competition, which included 340 student teams comprised of more than 770 students from 58 colleges and universities across the state. When Eutrobac won the grand prize at the Mohawk Valley region semifinal in early April, it automatically earned Wexler and Sangree a spot in the statewide competition. Following each business’ pitch and presentation, Eutrobac was first announced as the winner and concept stage

It will be a busy summer for Eutrobac. “We have a series of paid pilot studies to continue testing the technology in industry this summer, including one at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden,” Wexler says. “We’re also collaborating with Hamilton students, and a few will intern with our company this summer. At the [Garden], the interns will take the water samples and analyze the data.”

In the fall, Sangree will attend the University of California-Santa Cruz as a Ph.D. candidate in their biogeochemistry program and continue working on Eutrobac and the NutriFilterTM. Wexler plans to focus full-time on the company to achieve scaled distribution by 2026.

— © 2024 Hamilton College. All Rights Reserved. Sangree and Wexler are eager to connect with any Hamilton students or alumni interested in learning more about internships or other opportunities. Get in touch by emailing contact@eutrobac.com.

Read: https://www.hamilton.edu/news/stories/ water-nitrogen-filtration-eutrobac-ellie-sangreejesse-wexler#

The Woodlandscollege Park High School

$50,000 Goes to High School Students Study of Microplastic Filtration

More than $9 Million Awarded to High School Scientists and Engineers at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2024

Justin Huang and Victoria Ou, both 17, of Woodlands, Texas, received the Gordon E. Moore Award for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations of $50,000 for their new prototype filtration system that uses ultrasonic waves to remove microscopic plastic particles from water. In lab tests, the acoustic force from the highfrequency sound waves removed between 84% and 94% of the suspended microplastic particles in a single pass. The students are now working to scale up and fine-tune their experimental system.

Harnessing Ultrasound for Microplastic Filtration

Microplastics have become a prevalent global environmental issue, with an estimated 75 trillion microplastics in the oceans today. MPs pose dangers to wildlife and cause serious health issues for humans. Existing microplastic removal methods are limited because of high expenses or potentially hazardous chemicals; consequently, a non-invasive, energy-efficient, and cost-effective solution is nec- essary. In this project, a novel ultrasound filtration system was constructed with piezoelectric transducers attached to steel tubes, which were connected with silicon tubing. When suspended microplastics were pushed through the device, the ultrasound’s acoustic radiation force prevented particles from passing, producing microplastic-free water. One-stage filtration of polyethylene yielded efficiencies between 84-94% with water flowing at rates of 10, 20, and 40 mL/minute; two-stage produced 94-96% efficiencies for the same flow rates. Cross-comparison using polyurethane and polystyrene had similar results, producing efficiencies greater than 95%.

Additionally, when compared to a onestage system of bigger diameter, it was found that smaller tubes had better filtration. The device was also tested on its ability to handle laundry water rinsed with polyester fabric and microplastic build-up from highly concentrated or large volumes of water, which it successfully filtered. A CFD simulation was created to mimic reallife applications and verify results. While future refining is needed, this new acoustic filtering approach is the first-of-its-kind, safely and effectively filtering microplastics through ultrasonic technology. With its robust abilities of intercepting source pollution and cleaning contaminated waters, its application can be extended to remove other particle pollutants.

Read: https://www.societyforscience.org/isef/

Georgia Institute Of Technology

From Brewery to Biofilter: Making Yeast-Based Water Purification Possible

Report by Shelley Wunder-Smith

When looking for an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to clean up contaminated water and soil, Georgia Tech researchers Patricia Stathatou (at right) and Christos Athanasiou (at left) turned to yeast. A cheap byproduct from fermentation processes – e.g., something your local brewery discards in mass quantities after making a batch of beer – yeast is widely known as an effective biosorbent. Biosorption is a mass transfer process by which an ion or molecule binds to inactive biological materials through physicochemical interactions.

When they initially studied this process, Stathatou and Athanasiou found that yeast can effectively and rapidly remove trace lead – at challenging initial concentrations below one part per million – from drinking water. Conventional water treatment methods either fail to eliminate lead at these low levels or result in high financial and environmental costs to do so. In a paper published in RSC Sustainability, the researchers show how this process can be scaled.

“If you put yeast directly into water to clean it, you will need an additional treatment step to remove the yeast from the water afterward,” said Stathatou, a research scientist at the Renewable Bioproducts Institute and an incoming assistant professor at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “To implement this process at scale without requiring additional separation steps, the yeast cells need a housing.”

“Additionally, because yeast is abundant – in some cases, brewers even pay companies to haul it away as a waste byproduct – this process gives the yeast a second life,” said Athanasiou, an assistant professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. “It’s a plentiful low, or even negative, value resource, making this purification process inexpensive and scalable.”

To develop a housing for the yeast, Stathatou and Athanasiou partnered with MIT chemical engineers Devashish Gokhale and Patrick S. Doyle. Gokhale and Stathatou are the lead authors of this new study that demonstrates the yeast water purification process’s scalability.

“We decided to make these hollow capsules – analogous to a multivitamin pill – but instead of filling them up with vitamins, we fill them up with yeast cells,” Gokhale said. “These capsules are porous, so the water can go into the capsules and the yeast are able to bind all of that lead, but the yeast themselves can’t escape into the water.”

The yeast-laden capsules are sufficiently large, about half a millimeter in diameter, for easy separation from water by gravity. This means they can be used to make packed-bed bioreactors or biofilters, with contaminated water flowing through these hydrogel-encased yeast cells and coming out clean.

Stathatou and Athanasiou envision using these hydrogel yeast capsules in small biofilters consumers can put on their kitchen faucets, or biofilters large enough to fit municipal or industrial wastewater treatment systems. But to enable such scalability, the yeast-laden capsules’ ability to withstand the force generated by water flowing inside such systems needed to be studied as well.

To determine this, Athanasiou tested the capsules’ mechanical robustness, which is how strong and sturdy they are in the presence of waterflow forces. He found they can withstand forces like those generated by water running from a faucet, or even flows like those in water treatment plants that serve a few hundred homes. “In previous attempts to scale up biosorption with similar approaches, lack of mechanical robustness has been a common cause of failure,” Athanasiou said. “We wanted to make sure our work addressed this issue from the very beginning to ensure scalability.”

“After assessing the mechanical robustness of the yeast-laden capsules, we made a prototype biofilter using a 10-ml syringe,” Stathatou explained. “The initial lead concentration of water entering the biofilter was 100 parts per billion; we demonstrated that the biofilter could treat the contaminated water, meeting EPA drinking water guidelines, while operating continuously for 12 days.”

The researchers hope to identify ways to isolate and collect specific contaminants left behind in the filtering yeast, so those too can be used for other purposes.

“Apart from lead, which is widely used in systems for energy generation and storage, this process could be used to remove and recover other metals and rare earth elements as well,” Athanasiou said. “This process could even be useful in space mining or other space applications.”

They also would like to find a way to keep reusing the yeast. “But even if we can’t reuse yeast indefinitely, it is biodegradable,” Stathatou noted. “It doesn’t need to be put into an industrial composter or sent to a landfill. It can be left on the ground, and the yeast will naturally decompose over time, contributing to nutrient cycling.”

This circular approach aims to reduce waste and environmental impact, while also creating economic opportunities in local communities. Despite numerous lead contamination incidents across the U.S., the team’s successful biosorption method notably could benefit low-income areas historically burdened by pollution and limited access to clean water, offering a cost-effective remediation solution. “We think there’s an interesting environmental justice aspect to this, especially when you start with something as low-cost and sustainable as yeast, which is essentially available anywhere,” Gokhale says.

Moving forward, Stathatou and Athanasiou are exploring other uses for their hydrogel-yeast purification method. The researchers are optimistic that, with modifications, this process can be used to remove additional inorganic and organic contaminants of emerging concern, such as PFAS – or “forever” chemicals – from the water or the ground.

—

© 2024 Georgia Institute of Technology

Citation: Devashish Gokhale, Patritsia M. Stathatou, Christos E. Athanasiou, and Patrick S. Doyle, “Yeast-laden Hydrogel Capsules for Scalable Trace Lead Removal from Water,” RSC Sustainability.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SU00052H

Funding: Patricia Stathatou was supported by funding from the Renewable Bioproducts Institute at Georgia Tech. Devashish Gokhale was supported by the Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS).

Read: https://research.gatech.edu/brewerybiofilter-making-yeast-based-water-purificationpossible?utm_source=coe_homepage&utm_ medium=web&utm_campaign=newsfeed

Elon College

Elon Engineering Students Test Cutting-Edge Material to Reduce Water Pollution

Report by Michael Abernethy inorganic/organic material that showed strong performance in lab tests for phosphate and nitrate removal. The material is adaptable to use in stand-alone filter cartridges as well as mixedmedia beds and can be easily retrofitted into existing bioretention or filtration systems.

The research collaboration with Duke University’s Center for WaSH-AID, Oldcastle Infrastructure, a CRH Company, and Triangle Environmental Health Initiative is being piloted on Elon’s campus through 2024.

Elon engineering students are participating in research and development of a proprietary new material that holds potential to decrease pollution in stormwater runoff in a collaboration with researchers at Duke University and sponsored by Oldcastle Infrastructure, a CRH Company.

The project originated in Duke’s Center for WaSH-AID (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Infectious Disease) and is in Phase II for field testing at Elon. This phase includes water collection at a station on Elon’s South Campus as well as data collection and analysis in Innovation Hall’s environmental and biosafety labs and will continue through the fall.

Excess nutrients in stormwater runoff threaten human and environmental health. The nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizer, pet waste and other sources is carried into creeks, rivers and lakes.

Both Hill and Seth Wolter plan to pursue advanced environmental engineering degrees and are currently applying to graduate programs. They are among the first class of Elon’s B.S. in Engineering – Environmental Concentration degree program, which will graduate five students in May.

Darcy said Hill and Seth Wolter have been ideal interns for the project.

Those contaminants contribute to algal blooms, which can be toxic to humans and aquatic life.

Lauren Hill ’24 and Seth Wolter ’24, both engineering majors with concentrations in environmental engineering, began internships with the project last fall. They are working with Julia Darcy, WaSHAID assistant research professor, Scott Wolter, associate professor and chair of Elon’s Department of Engineering, and Will Pluer, assistant professor of engineering, to conduct a series of laboratory tests on stormwater collected after it’s run through different sorbent media — materials that collect molecules of other substances — at the pilot unit on south campus.

“This kind of work lines up perfectly with what I want to do in grad school and what I want to research in my future career,” Seth Wolter said. “I want to work with labs and professors who do similar lab-based work with water-quality issues.”

Their results will inform which concentrations are most effective at removing phosphorous and nitrogen in various precipitation events and conditions.

Oldcastle Infrastructure, which is sponsoring the research, is a leading provider of solutions that connect and protect critical water, communications, energy and transportation infrastructure with a focus on sustainability.

In Phase I, Duke Center for WaSH-AID researchers developed a novel sorbent

“It’s exciting to be working with Oldcastle because they are one of the leaders in stormwater management,” said Darcy, who joined the project last March. “In the world we live in, which is full of impervious surfaces, management of stormwater and the nutrients and other pollutants it picks up is critical. Oldcastle is grappling with this water-quality problem, and it’s cool that they are investing in this technology development.”

For Phase II, Triangle Environmental Health Initiative, which engineers water management systems, was subcontracted to design and build the pilot system, and Wolter and Elon University were enlisted to provide laboratory testing and support of the pilot on campus. Wolter has connections to both WaSH-AID and Triangle Environmental through previous work at Duke University and collaborative research in a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded project to reimagine the toilet and improve sanitation in underdeveloped countries. Pluer is guiding students with expertise in ion chromatography for chemical analysis.

The location on Elon’s South Campus near the golf training facility and Fire of the Carolinas practice field was selected for field testing because runoff there flows from impermeable surfaces and agricultural sources into a creek basin. Collection for Phase II is expected to continue through 2024, giving researchers a full year of mitigation data throughout changing seasons and conditions.

“Working with stormwater and affecting the surrounding ecosystems is directly related to what I want to do after graduation,” Hill said. “I have grown to love the combination of fieldwork and analyzing samples in the lab.”

“They’re really enthusiastic and I appreciate their ability to say, ‘I don’t know how to do this, but I will work with you to learn how.’ That’s a great skill to have and something they really embody at Elon: Being ready to learn and try new things,” Darcy said.

Students value the collaborative nature of the research project, and that it’s allowed them to grow their laboratory skills in a professional setting.

“Dr. Darcy has created a safe learning environment for both Seth and me, and I feel confident to try new things without the fear of making mistakes,” Hill said. “Dr. Darcy has been an incredible role model, especially as a woman in STEM leading such an impactful project in the climate science field. She is truly the scientist I want to be.”

Mitigating this stormwater pollution has been a focus of Elon’s Department of Engineering through various projects, including several in junior-level research methods courses and Senior Projects in Elon Engineering Design that developed technology for constructed floating wetlands.

Wolter said the project with Oldcastle Infrastructure and WaSH-AID continues that focus on water research and fulfills the mission of Elon’s Innovation Quad, which includes 20,000 square feet of lab and prototyping spaces in Innovation and Founders halls.

“We’re very happy to be working with WaSH-AID in this high-level research and development work,” Wolter said. “It’s great experience for our students to get to work with professionals, and it meets Elon’s intention of filling the Innovation Quad with high-quality, significant research that finds solutions to 21st-century problems.”

— © 2024 Elon University, All Rights Reserved. Posted in: Academics & Research Student Experience Read: https://www.elon.edu/u/news/2024/02/12/ elon-engineering-students-test-cutting-edge-materialto-reduce-water-pollution/