To treat polluted surface water in India, a group of designers and biochemical engineers at University College London have developed a leaf-shaped clay tile that cleans heavy metals out of waste water by capturing the pollutants in an algae-infused hydrogel. The tiles, called Indus, use bio-remediation, or a process where the algae breaks down the contaminants in a natural way. Fast Company’s Katharine Schwab has more details on the product below.
This technique has been used since the 1940s to clean up messes on heavily contaminated sites: microbes like algae, bacteria, and fungus can eat plastic and oil spills, and have even found their way into household cleaning supplies that can munch on the oils that are clogging your sink.
As part of the design process, the designers traveled to India and observed the production processes of bangle makers in Kolkata and textile dyers in Panipat, where they found that different batches of fabric or jewelry would produce different types of heavy metals within the wastewater. Through testing, the team found that one particular algae species has the ability to reduce the concentration of the cadmium 10 times within 45 minutes. This algae species was infused into a seaweed-based hydrogel because the gelatinous material is a handy home base for the algae while it’s cleaning the water.
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