Water Filtration Using Plant Xylem
Name
Boutilier-2014-Water filtration usi.pdf
Size
3.36 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e188a6fdb7f5c4a13017efe3a0b1839a
Author(s)
Boutilier, Michael Stephen Ha
Chambers, Valerie A.
Venkatesh, Varsha
Karnik, Rohit
Lee, Jongho, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date Issued
February 2014
Journal
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Citation
Boutilier, Michael S. H., Jongho Lee, Valerie Chambers, Varsha Venkatesh, and Rohit Karnik. “Water Filtration Using Plant Xylem.” Edited by Zhi Zhou. PLoS ONE 9, no. 2 (February 26, 2014): e89934.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Effective point-of-use devices for providing safe drinking water are urgently needed to reduce the global burden of waterborne disease. Here we show that plant xylem from the sapwood of coniferous trees – a readily available, inexpensive, biodegradable, and disposable material – can remove bacteria from water by simple pressure-driven filtration. Approximately 3 cm3 of sapwood can filter water at the rate of several liters per day, sufficient to meet the clean drinking water needs of one person. The results demonstrate the potential of plant xylem to address the need for pathogen-free drinking water in developing countries and resource-limited settings.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0089934
