Tag Archives: filtration

Tanzanian research into nanotechnology-enabled water filters

Inexpensive 99.9999…% filtration of metals, bacteria, and viruses from water is an accomplishment worthy of a prize as the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering noted by awarding its first ever International Innovation Prize of £25,000 ($38,348 [USD?]) to Askwar Hilonga, a Tanzanian academic and entrepreneur. A June 11, 2015 article by Sibusiso Tshabalala for Quartz.com describes the water situation in Tanzania and Hilonga’s accomplishment (Note: Links have been removed),

Despite Tanzania’s proximity to three major lakes almost half of it’s population cannot access potable water.

Groundwater is often the alternative, but the supply is not always clean. Mining waste (pdf, pg 410) and toxic drainage systems easily leak into fresh groundwater, leaving the water contaminated.

Enter Askwar Hilonga: a 38-year old chemical engineer PhD and entrepreneur. With 33 academic journal articles on nanotechnology to his name, Hilonga aims to solve Tanzania’s water contamination problems by using nanotechnology to customize water filters.

There are other filters available (according to Tshabalala’s article) but Hilonga’s has a unique characteristic in addition to being highly efficient and inexpensive,

Purifying water using nanotechnology is hardly a new thing. In 2010, researchers at the Yi Cui Lab at Stanford University developed a synthetic “nanoscanvenger” made out of two silver layers that enable nanoparticles to disinfect water from contaminating bacteria.

What makes Hilonga’s water filter different from the Stanford-developed “nanoscavenger”, or the popular LifeStraw developed by the Swiss-based health innovation company Vestergaard 10 years ago?

“It is customized. The filter can be tailored for specific individual, household and communal use,” says Hilonga.

A June 2, 2015 news item about the award on BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) online describes how the filter works,

The sand-based water filter that cleans contaminated drinking water using nanotechnology has already been trademarked.

“I put water through sand to trap debris and bacteria,” Mr Hilonga told the BBC’s Newsday programme about the filter.

“But sand cannot remove contaminants like fluoride and other heavy metals so I put them through nano materials to remove chemical contaminants.”

Hilonga describes the filter in a little more detail in his May 30, 2014 video submitted for for the UK Royal Academy of Engineering’s prize (Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation)

Finalists for the prize (there were four) received a six month mentorship which included help to develop the technology further and with business plans. Hilonga has already enabled 23 entrepreneurs to develop nanofilter businesses, according to the Tshabalala article,

Through the Gongali Model Company, a university spin-off company which he co-founded, Hilonga has already enabled 23 entrepreneurs in Karatu to set up their businesses with the filters, and local schools to provide their learners with clean drinking water.

With this prize money, Hilonga will be able to lower the price of his filter ($130 [USD?) according to the BBC news item.

Congratulations to Dr. Hilonga and his team! For anyone curious about the Gongali Model Company, you can go here.