Clean water is a basic human right. And thanks to Reverse Osmosis (RO) water purifiers, many urban households now have easy access to clean water.
Municipal or tap water passes through the pump and finally through a semipermeable membrane where the dissolved solids are eliminated. But ever wondered what happens to the wastewater?
While RO purifiers may seem like a blessing in disguise, they also lead to a lot of water wastage. On average, for every one litre of water that is purified, three litres of water go to waste.
A group of students from the Electrical Engineering department of SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu has developed an organic RO filter to reduce the quantity of ejected water from the purifier.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Team Glow Girls, comprising Sinthuja K, Neavetha R, Purnimaa KA, Kavisha V, Vijay T and Nijjanthan BR, participated in the Smart India Hackathon, 2019, was tasked by Bosch to create hardware for clean water.
“All of us have been friends from the very first year of college and we have been testing nature and its effects on the real world,” says Sinthuja, adding that they later included nature with technology.
The team then started experimenting and developing an organic filter.
“With the idea of low cost and sustainability in mind, we have developed an organic filter,” Sinthuja says.
The team experimented with moringa seeds, jamun seeds, clearing nuts, and a combination of all three to develop the organic filter.
“We found out that using Strychnospotatorum, or cleaning nut, can reduce the TDS content in the feed water and, thus, increase the efficiency of pure water up to 85 percent,” Sinthuja says.
This will help reduce the amount of water ejected out of the purifier. The team is now working to launch their product in the market.
The present government under Narendra Modi has been trying to build a strong spirit of innovation among young minds, especially students. To further this initiative, the government started Smart India Hackathon (SIH) in 2017 and recently concluded its third chapter successfully.
YourStory brings to you some amazing young minds who have taken up the challenge to solve some of the country’s problem.
(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)
