Eggshell Water Filtration System

Water Filtration System designed around eggshell waste, and disposal of spent eggshell filters used in concrete to provide an increase compressive strength.

Comment

Inspiration

"Sustainable cement replacement using waste eggshells: A review on mechanical properties of eggshell concrete and strength prediction using artificial neural network": https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214509523003406 Polyethyleneimine modified eggshell membrane as a novel biosorbent for adsorption and detoxification of Cr(VI) from water† from the Journal of Materials Chemistry https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/jm/c1jm12329g

What it does

It prevents eggshells from entering landfills, Increases access to safe drinking water by using waste eggshells and other accessible materials Dispose of waste and hazardous heavy metals in concrete, whilst also increasing its strength.

How we built it

It is a modular design based on a pvc extrusion process requiring minimal fabrication.

Challenges we ran into

We were initially worried about the height of the product in terms of reachability as it would've required a person to lift large quantities of water above their heads and may not be viable for a lot of people. We fixed this by editing the diameter and making it shorter and wall mounted. We were also concerned about the disposal of the spent eggshell filter as they would now be contaminated with heavy metals and would pose an environmental risk if put into landfills. We solved this issue by encapsulating the waste eggshells in concrete. It was found that not only is this a safe store of the waste due to the alkaline structure, but also increases the strength of the concrete. Finally we found that the required amount of eggshells to sustain a family for a month would be in the tens of thousands. Due to this whilst the project theory works it is unlikely that the supply of eggshells will be able to meet the demand.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were able to create a circular cycle of the eggshells that provided multiple purposes and left no waste.

What we learned

The importance of circular design, and material lifecycles. Looking beyond the goal and finding subsequent challenges faced in the use.

What's next for Eggshell Water Filtration System

Finding other materials that can be used in place or in addition with the eggshells. Making the the other materials more accessible for example, activated charcoal being created from coconut shells.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates