SmartFilter: A General Application, Non-Fouling, Universal Pollutant Filter

Emerging Contaminants are everywhere!

Emerging contaminants include four broad categories: Non-Polar Organic Contaminants (NPOCs), Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylene (BTEX)/Oils, Chlorinated Organic Pollutants (Cl-OPs), and Heavy Metals

Over the past decades, intentional and unintentional production of these chemicals has resulted in widespread pollution of environments and aquatic ecosystems.

ECs are Extremely Dangerous!

Synthetic and Emerging Contaminants pose significant threats to both the environment and human health

Due to the ultra-small size of these microscopic and molecular-scale pollutants, bioaccumulation through oceanic microorganisms is common and easily exposes humans to these contaminants.

Combined with their ability to infiltrate the body, very small amounts of ECs are often able to cause severe adverse health effects, including but not limited to: Cancer, Heart Failure, Kidney Failure, etc...

ECs in Wastewater

Filtration of emerging contaminants in wastewater is challenging due to the wide variety of chemical characteristics that encompass ECs. These synthetic micro/nano-contaminants are practically impossible to filter out effectively without the use of indiscriminate methods such as physical membrane filtration. The issue is however, with physical membrane methods, the ultra-high fouling potential of wastewater effluent would quickly render current filtration systems ineffective and costly.

Current Selective Processes

Current non-indiscriminate, or selective wastewater filtration processes that only filter out target pollutants are still underdeveloped and ineffective:

Chemical filtration has a low removal rate and has a high potential for secondary contamination

Biological filtration is highly expensive, requires extremely long periods of time, and is generally underresearched with low applicability to these synthetic pollutants.

To achieve selective long-range filtration while rejecting non-target pollutants, a PDMS/n-Chain Alkanes complexed gel is used as the primary extraction phase, while Micro-Polyacrylamide coatings are used to facilitate aqueous compatibility.

This results in unique selective filtration mechanisms for the 4 main classes of pollutants:

NPOCs/Cl-OPs: Absorption

Fluids (BTEX/Oils): Integration

Ionic (Heavy Metals): Complexation

Synthetic Microparticles (Microplastics, High-Melting Point NPOCs): Adsorption

Contact with the extraction phase with

SmartFilter’s Easy Fabrication

As outlined in the project, the filter preparation procedure must be simple, cost-efficient, & facile. As a result, the SmartFilter system is prepared via 4 main steps:

Liquid phase stabilization of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with hentriacontane

Polyurethane-melamine substrate dip-coated in extractive phase mixture & rapidly shock quenched

Liquid phase hydrated polyacrylamide (p-AAM) applied to extractive phase coated substrate

Dry-curing of resultant filter substrate for permanent fixture of coatings to give finished SmartFilter

SmartFilter Data Collection

Data was collected using 6 main methods:

Hi-Resolution Microscopy

UV-Visible Spectrophotometry

Gravimetric Analysis

Fourier-Transform IR Spectroscopy

Fourier-Transform Raman Spectra

Turbidity Analysis

All experimentation and data-collection involved real wastewater samples analysed at real wastewater treatment plants in order to maximize accuracy and realism.

Sample Preparation

Filtered contaminated samples through the SmartFilter, followed by sequential treatment steps: steel mesh pre-filtration, density separation, alkali degradation, and final oxidative degradation (Fenton process). These methods allow for clean analysis of pollutant quantity and characterization when needed

Non-Polar Organic Contaminants & Chlorinated Organic Pollutants

FT-IR Spectroscopy

FT-IR analysis of the resultant filter structure following treatment of p-DCB polluted WW showed high correlation with experimental data for p-DCB. Clean peaks at 1010 cm⁻¹, 1084 cm⁻¹, 1388 cm⁻¹, and 1473 cm⁻¹ demonstrates clear presence of the pollutant on the filter material without the contamination of other substances, indicating a highly selective filtration system

UV-Visible Spectroscopy

UV-Vis analysis of influent (polluted) vs. effluent (SmartFilter treated) fluids demonstrated >99% removal efficiency of NPOCs such as naphthalene and anthracene

This supports the previous FT-IR data of selective NPOC/Cl-OP filtration

Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, & Xylene

FT-IR Spectroscopy

FT-IR scans of washed treated filter material also showed strong BTEX presence, with signature toluene and xylene peaks at:

Toluene: 728 cm⁻¹, 1462 cm⁻¹, 1608 cm⁻¹

Xylene: 1523 cm⁻¹

Despite complete rinsing with solvents, these signals demonstrates the validity of the proposed integration mechanism directly into the PDMS complex

UV-Visible Spectroscopy

UV-Vis further supports IR data, recording over 99.5% removal of benzene compounds within the treated effluent

Oils and Liquid Pollutants

Analysis of influent and effluent samples with a turbidity meters across hundreds of field samples resulted in over 98% removal efficiencies of gasoline, motor oils, and cooking oils from aquatic environments across multiple matrices

Compared to control samples without the proper PDMS extraction phase, removal efficiencies were less than 30%

These results demonstrate strong potential for SmartFilter applications in areas such as oil spills and environment remediation

Heavy Metal Analysis

μ-FTIR Full-Field Scanning

Full field IR microscopic scanning of filter modules demonstrated a high presence of various ionic complexes

These complexes are heavy metal ions coordinated to PDMS and melamine nitrogen lone pairs, as the SmartFilter is a tandem system able to remove both non-polars and ionics

Gravimetric Analysis

Following caustic treatment of the pollutant samples, analysis of the resultant precipitants allowed for both gravimetric and turbidity data

These data points supported each other to within a percentage point, demonstrating over 99% removal of heavy metal ions, across 27 different environments

SmartFilter Fouling: Flux + μ-FTIR Particle Analysis

Testing across 36 separate environments, demonstrated exceptional resistance to fouling. Through a combination of flux analysis and FTIR assisted quantitative analysis, the SmartFilter is able to achieve:

Over 1800x higher resistance to filter fouling and clogging in WW

Over 75% flux even after 5 years of simulated usage

While conventional membrane filtration suffers from:

Over 85% flux reduction after just one day of simulated usage

Near unusability after 3 days in post-secondary wastewater, and minutes in untreated wastewater

The SmartFilter system and its multi-phase design address the vast majority, if not all, limitations of current treatment technologies. The filtration system has the potential to significantly reduce a wide range of emerging and synthetic contaminants, including NPOCs, BTEX, oils, and heavy metals, in aquatic environments.

In the end, the system has four main advantages over current filtration systems:

Extremely high removal rates (>99%) across multiple contaminant classes, including the vast majority of current pollutants

Incredibly cost effective: for a standard 8'' module, base manufacturing costs remain under $10 compared to >$300 for conventional membrane systems

Environmentally friendly: preparation utilizes green chemistry principles with minimal waste, and the filter materials are regenerable

Near Non-Fouling: The SmartFilter demonstrates over 1800 times greater resistance to fouling with orders of magnitudes greater lifespans, enabling sustained performance even in complex, highly polluted wastewater environments

These major improvements address the core challenges of current wastewater treatment solutions, particularly the question regarding fouling in effleunt environments. Through this non-physical mechanism, the SmartFilter's novel design allows for a solution that is incomparable to any other designs. By overcoming this major roadblock, this filtration device has the potential to directly impact the highest-polluting regions of the planet, specifically industrializing and decentralized areas.

Next Steps:

Continue and expand field trials in both municipal and industrial wastewater settings to evaluate long-term stability, regeneration efficiency, and performance across diverse contaminant profiles and flow conditions

Further optimize the chemically selective design of the SmartFilter by refining the oleogel extraction phase

Evaluate scalability and cost-efficiency through prototype iteration and material optimization, with the goal of enabling low-cost production for real-world wastewater treatment applications

Develop strategies for intellectual property protection and technology transfer to ensure the system can be safely advanced toward commercialization

Integrate the SmartFilter into modular, adaptable filtration systems suitable for decentralized, industrial, and resource-limited environments

I would like to first extend my gratitude to the City of Vancouver and the Liquid Waste Department for supplying wastewater effluent as well as being able to conduct field testing on-site. Furthermore, thank you to the University of British Columbia and OceanWise for providing me with access to specialized analytical equipment and laboratory space. Lastly, thank you to Fisheries and Oceans Canada for sponsoring my project, especially with their aid in on-site experimental and large-scale testing.

Moreover, big shoutout to my parents and family members for encouraging and supporting me in everyway possible. Lastly, thank you to Ms. Murray-Hoenig for her support as well as Mr. Shin and Mr. Bortolotto for kick-starting my science fair journey.

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