Engineering and characterization of gymnosperm sapwood toward enabling the design of water filtration devices
Name
s41467-021-22055-w.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
3.41 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
2ba0a9ade17cfe5bbf867d2cdd376678
Author(s)
Ramchander, Krithika
Hegde, Megha
Antony, Anish Paul
Wang, Luda
Leith, Kendra
Smith, Amy
Karnik, Rohit
Date Issued
March 2021
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Ramchander, Krithika et al. "Engineering and characterization of gymnosperm sapwood toward enabling the design of water filtration devices." Nature Communications 12, 1 (March 2021): 1871. © 2021 The Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Naturally-occurring membranes in the xylem tissue of gymnosperm sapwood enable its use as an abundantly-available material to construct filters, with potential to facilitate access to safe drinking water in resource-constrained settings. However, the material’s behavior as a filter is poorly understood, and challenges such as short shelf life have not been addressed. Here, we characterize the operational attributes of xylem filters and show that the material exhibits a highly non-linear dependence of flow resistance on thickness upon drying, and a tendency for self-blocking. We develop guidelines for the design and fabrication of xylem filters, demonstrate gravity-operated filters with shelf life >2 years, and show that the filters can provide >3 log removal of E. coli, MS-2 phage, and rotavirus from synthetic test waters and coliform bacteria from contaminated spring, tap, and ground waters. Through interviews and workshops in India, we use a user-centric approach to design a prototype filtration device with daily- to weekly-replaceable xylem filters, and uncover indicators of social acceptance of xylem as a natural water filter. Our work enhances the understanding of xylem as a filtration material, and opens opportunities for engineering a diverse range of low-cost, biodegradable xylem-based filtration products on a global scale.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Device Research Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22055-w
