Research Symposium

BIO

Logan Solomon is a Biological Sciences major with minors in Interdisciplinary Science and Physics. He is from Houston, TX and plans to pursue law school in the future to study IP or Environmental law.

Optimizing Production of Moringa oleifera F-sand for Removing Nutrients from Eutrophic Lakes

Abstract

Eutrophication occurs when an excessive amount of nitrogen and phosphorus enters a body of water, causing large-scale algal blooms that severely deplete the dissolved oxygen, resulting in detrimental effects on the environment. Moringa oleifera cationic protein (MOCP) is a naturally occurring seed protein from the Moringa tree that electrostatically adsorbs to the surface of negatively charged substrates, reversing their charge and creating a functional sand (f-sand). F-sand can then be used as a filtration agent by attracting and immobilizing the negatively charged anions that drive eutrophication. This mechanism has previously only been observed at small scales, so we sought to be the first to optimize a scalable method for f-sand production. Initially, through literature review, we devised experiments using differing fine substrates to determine which would be the most effective. These experiments entailed mixing and vacuum filtering different substrates with varying aqueous concentrations of MOCP which were then added to nutrient solutions. We used an Ion Chromatographer (IC) to quantify nutrient uptake over time. Our preliminary results conclude that calcium bentonite is the optimal substrate to maximize nutrient removal by f-sand. Experiments are ongoing to determine the most efficient concentration of MOCP for large-scale deployment. While results are not finalized, our current findings express the potential of MOCP f-sand to be a scalable, cost-effective agent in mitigating eutrophication. With this, further research is necessary to evaluate real-world effectiveness of f-sand and develop efficient methods of strategic deployment.

Keywords: Eutrophication, Environment, Sustainability, Filtration, Health