High School Student Develops Affordable Microplastic Filtering Technique for Drinking Water

In May, high school junior Mia Heller was awarded $500 for creating an affordable filtration system using ferrofluid to clean water tainted with microplastics.

Earlier this spring, student Mia Heller was honored at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair held in Ohio. The $500 award, presented by the Patent and Trademark Office Society (PTOS), acknowledged Heller’s contributions to water filtration technology that effectively eliminates microplastics without excessive costs.

Heller’s project summary reveals that her filtration system utilized ferrofluid, a liquid carrying magnetic particles. Unlike conventional filtration methods, which can be expensive and depend on chemical processes, the ferrofluid-based approach provides a “cost-efficient, energy-saving, and eco-friendly solution” to the issue of microplastics contaminating drinking water.

“Microplastics have been located from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the heights of Mount Everest, and within the human brain and the placentas of unborn children,” Heller, a student at Mountain Vista Governor’s School in Virginia, states. “Exposure to microplastics correlates with heightened cancer risk, neurodegenerative diseases, and hormonal imbalances, disproportionately impacting marginalized communities.”

During the conference, Heller showcased a prototype made with 3D printing that introduced a canola oil-derived ferrofluid into water contaminated with microplastics. This mixture was treated via a magnetic separator and a layered filter to extract microplastics and separate the ferrofluid, effectively purifying the water while recycling approximately 87% of the ferrofluid. Notably, Heller’s prototype succeeded in eliminating nearly 96% of microplastics from the contaminated water.

“The developed system represents a viable option to current filtration technologies, and in areas struggling with access to clean water, it may revolutionize the approach to combating water pollution,” Heller adds.

Amid a time of severe pollution and climate crises, such an innovation is crucial now more than ever. So far, microplastics have been detected in 1,300 species, including humans, according to Stanford University. Furthermore, it is estimated that 10 to 40 million metric tons of these plastic particles enter the environment annually—a figure that could potentially double by 2040 if present patterns persist.

“We all need to minimize our plastic usage to safeguard our health, particularly single-use plastics,” encouraged Desiree LaBeaud, a pediatrics professor at Stanford Medicine.

Besides her $500 award from PTOS, Heller also achieved top accolades at the Virginia Piedmont Regional Science Fair in Charlottesville this past March. To learn more about Heller’s award-winning “Self-Recycling System for Microplastic Removal,” please visit the project’s dedicated page on ISEF.