Overview

The Drylab component of this year’s project was designed with potential applications in mind. The team went through many design iterations, but eventually settled on a system built to remove heavy metals from factory waste pipes. This was viewed as one of the most effective potential uses for our water filter system due to the high concentration of pollutants in factory waste and the relatively low volume of water that would need to be filtered.

The system is designed to continuously flow contaminated water through our engineered cells while simultaneously preventing release of our genetically engineered cells into the environment. The first step is a collection bucket that collects contaminated water flowing out of an industrial pipe. Next, this water is pumped into an environmentally robust casing. The pump is powered by a battery that can be recharged using an attached solar panel. The water flows through a carbon water filter to filter out any particulates that may clog the system. The water then enters the most important part of the system: the hollow fiber reactor. The hollow fiber reactor is a unit that contains hundreds of hollow fibers inside an outer casing. In our system, cells are placed in the outer casing and contaminated water will flow through the fibers. The pores in the fibers are large enough that metal ions and water can pass through, but cells and larger proteins cannot. As water flows through the cartridge, metal ions will pass through the fibers where they can come in contact with cells where they will be sequestered. After water passes through the hollow fiber reactor, it should be clear of most metal contaminants and is free to re-enter the main water stream. When implemented, downstream filters would be incorporated into the system to monitor metal concentrations (using the devised reporter system) and to ensure there is no release of genetically modified organisms into the environment.