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Inexpensive ceramic membranes for water filtration
Ubicación
Ceramic membranes that are easy to fabricate and install, using locally available soils.
Sobre ti
Ubicación
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
tu idea
Field of Work
Water
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2005
YouTube Upload
Web site (url)
Posicionamiento de tu iniciativa en el diagrama del mosaico:
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Public information alone doesn’t change behaviors
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Value-added services mean added business income
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
This field has not been completed
Name Your Project
Inexpensive ceramic membranes for water filtration
Describe Your Idea
Ceramic membranes that are easy to fabricate and install, using locally available soils.
Innovación
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Ceramic membranes that are easy to fabricate and install, using locally available soils.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
These membranes are made by using natural-zeolite-soils and a special cement formula. The wet soil-cement mixture is
cast on a mold of the desired size and shape.
The membrane is cured within 48 hours and is ready for use as a water filter.
The innovation is unique in the sense that:
(i)no firing is required to cure it,so it is devoid of cracks that are caused by thermal stress,
(ii)any shape and size can be molded easily and cheaply,
(iii)the raw materials are readily available,
(iv)the flow rate is high due to increased surface area,
(v)they are light in weight and can be made at site
(vi)a filtration system can be set up in 3 days making it suitable for emergency relief activities owing to the fact
that it takes 2 days to cure the membranes.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
Public and private water supplies projects use chemicals like alum and chlorine to remove turbidity and pathogens.
These are consumables that need to be delivered now and then. The transportation is sometimes hampered by
impassable roads, bad weather conditions, or social conflicts. Therefore a treatment system that does not depend on
chemicals can be very attractive.
Ceramic membranes offer the solution since they are inexpensive, easy to setup, and very durable.
How do you plan to expand your innovation?
I foresee great demand for ceramic membranes in water and wastewater treatment in the future.
My mission is to make these products available in the market at competitive price.
With the right partnership,I plan to accomplish the following:
(i)establish a production line.
(ii)build a workshop and equip it with the necessary machinery and furniture.
(iii)establish means for delivery of raw materials and ready products.
(iv)Engage the relevant staff:techinicians, drivers,chemists, accountants, sales representatives
(v)Conduct campaigns and advertisements
(vi)Secure the relevant government permits and licences
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
I have no partnership but work closely with fellow chemists and engineers at workplace.
I would wish to continue conducting my research and leave production and marketting to other experts.
Impacto
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
Sustainable technology for water treatment in all levels of society that translates into improved health.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
Rigorous laboratory testing need to be carried by different institutions to give independent results for the technology to be accepted international.
It is hard to establish links with such institutions.
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
My technology has not been implemented in the field so far.
However, I hope to serve water users in all sectors.
Directly
I am targetting public and private water service providers.
In addition, households and institutions like schools who wish to treat their water in-house will benefit.
Indirectly
The production, distribution, marketting and installation of ceramic membranes will be effected by combined efforts
of different players.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
The filters can remove flouride and other undesirable chemicals, by incorporating
activated carbon, calcium phosphate, etc in the substrate; hence incidences of fluorosis will be cut down.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation, if so please describe?
A means to achieve Water and wastewater quality standards.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
Water users in the following categories:
(i)domestic :drinking, cooking, washing, etc
(ii)industrial e.g beverages preparation
(iii)fisheries - removal of heavy metals e.g mercury
Esta presentación se trata de
Sustenibilidad
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
Through partnership with investors
Provide information on your finances and organization:
The product has not been introduced in the market yet
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Enormous! Water service providers and companies would want to increase profits by eliminating
use of chemicals for water treatment.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
Due to the fact that water treatment technologies that exist in the market are many, competition is high, and to make a niche would take considerable time.
La historia
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
Having worked in the water sector for the last 12 years, I have experienced all manner of challenges in water supply projects
Most consumers prefer a off-shelf technology that upon installation operates for long time with minimum attention.
After assessing these challeges and social trends, i sought to develop a technology that can solve these problems.
My dream was realised after attending a course in Japan on water and wasterwater treatment technologies.
Membrane filtration methods interested me most because ceramics can be fabricated anywhere in the world.
I started making ceramic filters using the Potters for Peace formulation. Eventually tried different methods
and materials in order to increase the rate of flow.
The flow rate is critical for a successful water treatment in order to meet high water demands.
Finally, I settled for ceramic membranes after discovering that natural zeolite soils offered the best filtration but only
after special treatment with cement.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
Andrew Mwangi is a Kenyan, Civil engineer, working for the Ministry of water and irrigation since 1995.
He is involved in planning and designing of water supply supply projects.
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Comentarios
Andrew... wonderful to learn about your work. I am sure you would be interested in joining other organizations with similar objectives, please check out the WHO network :
http://www.who.int/household_water/advocacy/combating_disease/en/index.
If you write us back we can provide you with many more documents, studies and updates on the ceramic filtration subject .
Peace
Ron Rivera
International Coordinator
Ceramic Water Filter Program
Potters For Peace www.pottersforpeace.org
Managua, Nicaragua
tel: 505 277 3807
pottersforpeace@yahoo.com
Ron
Your contributions and promotions of ceramic filters have a worldwide impact.
Therefore, I will not hesitate to join organisation that are devoted towards potable water provision.
Thank you.
Andrew
You guys seem to be on the right track, and it's great that technologies like yours and ours could grow into Africa, and other locations. I don't want to talk about pros and cons, since that may be irrelevant for now, but there do need to be more of the ceramic technologies.
Ceramic filters for household water treatment could get to be many and varied in design, in the same way that stoves, for indoor air quality, have been appropriate in ceramics. I believe you're technology is innovative, and that like ceramics in general, it needs to be an option. There may still be the perception that ceramic filters are bulky and expensive, but that viewpoint needs to be changed.
Many thanks,
Reid
Reid Harvey
SilverCeramicSystems.com
Alfred, NY USA
+508 246-1185
The number of comments here is inflated, mostly by me. Only three entries are from others, but I feel the need to say more.
Pottery, as a low technology in general, should lend itself to health interventions relating to both household water treatment and indoor air quality. In large part the application is in rural locations, in Africa, South Asia and elsewhere, where there is a tradition of village pottery.
Village potteries may not reach the ~1,000 degrees C of earthenware (aka terra cotta and pottery), where pottery water storage containers tend to be fired at around 500 to 600C. Common in the so-called third world are traditions of pottery, firing at the lower, earthenware temperatures. An additional, 'insight,' should be the synergy between the technologies of HWT and IAQ.
There is a good connection with ceramic and pottery technology, for both HWT and IAQ, and there is an opportunity for sharing and synergy.
Reid
Reid Harvey
SilverCeramicSystems.com
Alfred, NY USA
+508 246-1185
Reid
I appreciate your comments that enlighten me more on ceramic designs.
Everyone of us has a role to play ,from all corners of the world, to ensure mankind enjoys using water without endangering health.
We can achieve more if we work together.
Any innovation that cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions should be encouraged.
Regards,
Andrew
Year ago I was doing research for a ceramic filter using pebbles, cement and rice husk ash. A formula for making ceramic filters developed by Tata India.
I found out that the pH of the water after the filter was extremely high (not acceptable for consumers) during many liters of water that had been filtered.
Wondering what is happening regarding pH with the new zeolite based filter?
We can arrange some bacterial tests in India at no costs if you send us some samples.
regards
Klaas van der Ven
Basic Water Needs India
bwnindia@gmail.com
Klass
Thank you for the offer to test my ceramic membranes at no cost.
I will make arrangements and send you the samples.
The pH of water need not be altered by filtration process. To ensure this, I had to subject the cement to special treatment.
Regards
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Zeolite is certainly a good medium for use in your filtration...best regards and thank you for your efforts to help improve the waters of the world.
Brian
Hi Brian
Thank you for the encouragement.
Andrew
Acumen Fund
Changemakers Featured Commentator
Dear Mr. Mwangi,
It is interesting to hear about your innovation, and particularly exciting to see the comments and interest here of three real innovators in the water sector from around the world (Ron Rivera, Klaas van der Ven and Reid Harvey). I hope you truly take their encouragement and offers of support to heart.
Since at Acumen Fund we are really interested in how innovations like this can be marketed and distributed so that they reach the maximum number of people who need them, I would encourage you to identify partners that can be of assistance in lab- and field-testing the filter, as well as partners who could play a role in manufacturing and distribution. Though this is not necessarily your core expertise, you are the person in the best position to explain the potential value of this filter to potential partners.
Clearly, the fact that you are participating in this competition shows that you are ready to share what you have done and what you have learned. The next steps is find others who compliment your skills and resources who can help you take the next steps. Hopefully this community can be a part of that. Best wishes!
Yasmina