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Water Purification Through a Straw

CU 麻豆影院 Engineering Students

To help alleviate health issues caused by pathogens in water, a team of CU 麻豆影院 mechanical engineering students collaborated on a senior capstone project last spring to create PureSip, a prototype for a water purification system.

Housed inside a bottle lid, PureSip uses ultraviolet LED technology to purify water through a straw as the user drinks 鈥 killing 99.9% of germs and eliminating the need for single-use plastic bottles.

To support product adaptability, the bottle lid can be used with common reusable water bottle brands such as Nalgene and Hydro Flask. 

The purification process begins when the spout of the bottle lid is flipped open and can continue purifying for a total of 40 minutes before the batteries need to be recharged. With the assumption a user drinks at a certain pace, the team calculated that amount of time to equal 30 liters of water. On average, this would equate to 60 disposable plastic water bottles. 

The PureSip team members 鈥 Jack Figueirinhas (惭别肠丑贰苍驳谤鈥23), Jack Isenhart (惭别肠丑贰苍驳谤鈥23), Mackenzie Lamoureux (惭别肠丑贰苍驳谤鈥23), Ella McQuaid (惭别肠丑贰苍驳谤鈥23), Marie Resman (MechEngr鈥23) and Carlos Yosten (MechEngr鈥23) 鈥 made a point of using lithium-ion polymer batteries because they鈥檙e rechargeable, have a long battery life and are more compact than other battery options. 

The PureSip team pitched their idea at the 2023 New Venture Challenge, a cross-campus program and competition that gives aspiring entrepreneurs a chance to win money to fund a startup. The product received third place in the climate-focused section.

Lamoureux, PureSip鈥檚 product manager, said last spring, 鈥淲e hope that our product can help reduce plastic pollution, and more particularly help eliminate the need for single-use plastic bottles.鈥

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Photo courtesy College of Engineering and Applied Science