Waterbound

Project details

Programme

Year 2

Our waterways are closely tied to our communities and well-being. The pollution of these waterways by heavy metals such as nickel and the inability of current centralised water treatment systems to mediate this problem places us at a crossroads. How do we rethink our water management systems to help mitigate the influx from ever-growing industry?

Our vision is Waterbound, a synthetic reef system developed to remediate urban floodwater. We use the bacteria, Pseudomonas fluorescens, trapped within a chitosan-based composite to create a community-friendly, decentralised water treatment system that focuses on removing heavy metals from the most polluted river in Europe: the Sarno.

Students

Ebyan Alexander Rezgui Best MSc Bio-Integrated Design Student
Ophelie Eloise Tousignant
Philia Yi Sian Chua Best MArch Bio-Integrated Design Student

Explorations

Material Tests

Our material tests defined optimal properties based on the actions our material would have to perform and found a material composition that met our specifications.

PH Tests

We optimized the pH of our binder for both structure and bacterial growth

Material Gradient Tests

We added sodium alginate to our composition, which ensures better bacterial growth and adds to the bioremediation efficiency of our material.

ANSYS Flow Tests

To define the configuration of our designed geometry, we ran ANSYS flow rate tests on potential designs.

Bioremediation Tests

We used different percentages of integrated bacteria in our material gradient and our material composite to test the bioremediation efficiency of our design.

Final Design

Regional Map

Locations of canneries and tanneries along the Sarno and its tributaries. This river is the most polluted in Europe.

Site Plan

Our chosen site is on the Sarno river as it intersects with the town of Scafati. This site allows us to redefine the flow of the river and activate the town centre.