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An interdisciplinary team led by Dr Brenda Parker, Professor Marcos Cruz and Shneel Malik, created ‘Indus’, a tile-based, modular bioreactor wall system,Ìýbased on the principle of bioremediation. The structure is designed to hold algae-laden hydrogel for cleaning heavy materials from wastewater.

Inspired by the architecture of a leaf, water flows over a series of vein-like channels containing algae prepared in a seaweed-based hydrogel. Pollutants such as cadmium are sequestered by the algae and the hydrogel can then be processed to recover heavy metals safely.Ìý

The project meets the need for a simple, scalable and a sustainable system that can treat heavy metal contaminated wastewater on a local level.
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Indus was displayed at the A/D/O exhibition space in New York, earlier this month and for the public to support their favourite proposal.

Project credits

Team

DrÌýBrenda Parker, ProfessorÌýMarcos Cruz and Shneel Malik in partnership with , UK.

Scientific advisors

• Dr. Laura Stoffels and Arran Finlan, Department of Biochemical Engineering, UCL
• Dr. Vandana Mishra and Deepak Rawat, Delhi University, India

Ceramic manufacturing

• Grymsdyke Farm, UK
• Fettle Studio, UK
• Local artisans in Khurja, India

Special thanks to

• Promila Sharma and David Hanrahan,
• Reema Banerjee, CEE, India
• Anthony Acciavatti, Columbia UniversityÌý

Site visits

• Jur, Howrah District, Kolkata, India
• Textile Dyers, HUDA Industrial Area, Sec 29, Panipat, India

Visual editing

Images:

1. A close-up of ‘Indus’ wall
2. A close-up of the algae-laden hydrogel used in 'Indus'
3. ‘Indus’ on display in New York
4. A render showing ‘Indus’ installed in the courtyard of a small-scale textile dying industry in India