Innovative Bio-Integrated Design Wins Water Futures Design Challenge

An interdisciplinary team led by Dr Brenda Parker, Professor Marcos Cruz and Shneel Malik, created ‘Indus’, a tile-based, modular bioreactor wall system, based on the principle of bioremediation. The structure is designed to hold algae-laden hydrogel for cleaning heavy materials from wastewater.

Inspired by the architecture of a leaf, water flows over a series of vein-like channels containing algae prepared in a seaweed-based hydrogel. Pollutants such as cadmium are sequestered by the algae and the hydrogel can then be processed to recover heavy metals safely. 

The project meets the need for a simple, scalable and a sustainable system that can treat heavy metal contaminated wastewater on a local level.
 
Indus was displayed at the A/D/O exhibition space in New York, earlier this month and voting is now open for the public to support their favourite proposal.

Project credits

Team

Dr Brenda Parker, Professor Marcos Cruz and Shneel Malik in partnership with Grymsdyke Farm, UK.

Scientific advisors

• Dr. Laura Stoffels and Arran Finlan, Department of Biochemical Engineering, UCL
• Dr. Vandana Mishra and Deepak Rawat, Delhi University, India

Ceramic manufacturing

• Grymsdyke Farm, UK
• Fettle Studio, UK
• Local artisans in Khurja, India

Special thanks to

• Promila Sharma and David Hanrahan, Pure Earth
• Reema Banerjee, CEE, India
• Anthony Acciavatti, Columbia University 

Site visits

• Jur, Howrah District, Kolkata, India
• Textile Dyers, HUDA Industrial Area, Sec 29, Panipat, India

Visual editing

Martyna Marciniak

Images:

1. A close-up of ‘Indus’ wall
2. A close-up of the algae-laden hydrogel used in 'Indus'
3. ‘Indus’ on display in New York
4. A render showing ‘Indus’ installed in the courtyard of a small-scale textile dying industry in India