Group 063-01: Recyclable Filtration Materials

According to last week's testing, the existing prototype still fail to filter out the blue dye solution. Thus, we modified our prototype and decided to use some new materials - gravel - and we decided to mix the sand and charcoal powder and the gravel to see if it will be more effective. New Prototype: Inside a 2 liter bottle: 2 inches of cotton pads, 3 inches of charcoal powder/sand/gravel mix, 1/4 inch of sand, 1.5 inches of gravel We ran all three solutions into this filtration prototype, but we realized that some of the layers are too thick which the filtered water is coming out at a slow pace. And that we had too much gravel, especially in between the charcoal and sand layer. However, we did recognize that the filtered water came out clear which it seems that this prototype is working.  Thus, we recreate this prototype, but this time we remove the gravel from the charcoal/sand layer and reduce some of the gravel on the top layer.  This time, the water came ou...

According to last week's testing, we have not yet found a material or a prototype that can filter out the blue dye solutions, thus, today, we have to continued testing the different prototypes to see if it will capture the blue dye. Also, today, we decided to add a new material to our prototype - sand - to see if it will work in filtering the blue dye as we have saw working prototypes that use sand. Prototype: Inside a water bottle: layers of Cotton Pads (approximately an inch flat with spaces in between), Charcoal Powder (1 inch), Sand (2 inches) We ran the red dye solutions through it, but the red dye bled through the cotton pads which the water came out pink. Therefore, we realized that we need to pour the solutions at the center of the filtration so that it could be concentrated at the middle. Also, the water came out really slow, which we think that the sand layer is too thick.  Thus, we recreate the same prototype, but replacing the cotton pads and making it more...

Today, we continued testing our prototype, modifying the materials and arrangement of the layers to see if it will filter out the blue dye solutions as it has failed to do so last week. Testing Prototype 1:  Inside a water bottle: (2 layers of stacked Cotton Pads, 1 inch of charcoal powder, 2 layer of polyester fabric) The first attempt (when we ran red dye solutions through the filtration) was a complete failure. The red dye solution was not filtered, rather, it passed straight through the charcoal layer and into the cotton pads. Thus, we figure that the charcoal powder layer was not enough to filter out the red dye solution, so we decided to add a thicker layer of charcoal powder plus an additional layer.  We recreated the prototype, adding more charcoal powder and rearranging the layers. Testing Prototype 2:  Inside a water bottle: (2 layers of stacked Cotton Pads , a layer of polyester fabric, 2 inches of charcoal powders) When trying to wash the...

According to last week's testing, that prototype failed to filter the blue dye solutions, thus, this week we had to revise our prototype and we decided to add more materials to the system. Prototype 1: Inside a pint container with a hole on the bottom: (a layer of coffee filter, layer of T-shirt, layer of Cotton Pads, Charcoal Powder, more cotton pads on top)   Result: The water still came out black after washing the charcoal several times, thus, the coffee filter and the T-shirt as the bottom layer does not absorb or catch the charcoal powder really well. Also, we felt that the coffee filter does not do anything to the filtration system (rather it absorb the diluted charcoal powder which then come along with the filtered water), so we decided to remove the coffee filter. Prototype 2:  Still, inside a pint container with a hole on the bottom: (a layer of T-shirt, thin layer of cotton pads, a thin layer of charcoal powders, a smaller layer of T-shirt, a tiny bit...

Testing Prototype: (with Water) Inside a two liters water bottle: Layers of Cotton Pads + a thick layer of Activated Charcoal Powder We filtered water through this prototype several time, but the water still came out to be black which most of the charcoal filtered with the water. This result is different from last week's testing (the water came out completely clear after running a few rounds of water through this same prototype).  Revised Prototype:  We decided to use the same prototype, but this same using more cotton pads and less charcoal powders We continued to filtered water through this prototype a couple of times and this time it seems to be working. The filtered water is coming out quite clear, but some of the charcoal is still coming through the cotton pads and into the filtered water. However, as we ran water through the filtration system over and over again the water eventually came out completely clear. Organic Solution testing: (Red D...