A University of Waterloo professor is trying to use 3D-printed filters to reduce the amount of microplastics found in our water. Tiz Mekonnen began the research after learning more about the tiny plastic particles. “Microplastics recently became a big topic because they’re found in the food we eat, what we drink, the air we breathe in,” Mekonnen explained. “They’re very challenging to remove from water. So, we wanted to design a system that’s economically viable and scalable.” The filters are made out of a sustainable polymer that’s called polylactic acid. Once printed, a temporary water-soluble particle is added to make it more porous, followed by a pressure-sensitive adhesive. “The filters by themselves can remove only 16 per cent of microplastics, but by optimizing it further, the final optimized system can remove about 90 per cent of microplastics from water,” said Mekonnen. He added that the filtration efficiency came after 20 of the thin filters were stacked on one another. “We stopped at 20 for this demonstration research. But, by increasing it further, we expect that we can improve beyond 90 per cent.” Up until now, the filter testing has been small in scale, but Mekonnen hopes to expand their use to hopefully solve bigger problems. “Our system is generic enough to be applied for drinking water as well as wastewater. So, if we scale it up and it continues to show the same promise, we would be able to recycle our wastewater, bringing it back to drinking water,” he said. “The hope is to make sure that it’s affordable by anyone, similar to the Brita water filter we have at home.” Microplastic awareness According to a 2024 study published in the Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, microplastics were found in 83 per cent of tap water tested around the world. “Having them in our body and accumulating them is very dangerous. Studies show that they are now found in the human brain and breast milk as well, now exposing our kids to microplastic,” Mekonnen said. While the fibers can be transferred by drinking water, there are many ways they can end up in the body. “For instance, the clothes we wear are mostly made of polyester. When we wash them, the washing machine applies a lot of pressure in our water, which releases some of these microfibers into the atmosphere,” he explained. “So, it’s very prevalent in the environment and the ecosystem we live in.”
