Aug. 02, 2019 An 18 year-old Irish teenager has won the 2019 Google Science Fair for developing a method to remove […]
Aug. 02, 2019
An 18 year-old Irish teenager has won the 2019 Google Science Fair for developing a method to remove microplastics from water.
Ferreira’s project used a novel, but effective methodology for removing ocean plastics. He used magnets to attract microplastics from water. The project found that a magnetic liquid called ferrofluid attracted the tiny plastic particles and removed them from the water. After nearly a thousand tests, his device successfully removed about 88 percent of the microplastics from water samples, according to The Irish Times.
“I look forward to applying my findings and contributing towards a solution in tackling microplastics in our oceans worldwide,” he said.
The Google Science Fair invited 24 young scientists from around the world to its Mountain View, California campus to show off their projects. The invitees were chosen from a short list of 100 global entries. Ferreira’s grand prize is $50,000 in educational funding.
Ferreira is proud of what he created and the prize he received before heading to the University of Groningen in the Netherlands for college. However, he warned that solely removing plastics from the water is not the answer.
“I’m not saying that my project is the solution,” he told Business Insider. “The solution is that we stop using plastic altogether.”