Pressing Problem

The pressing problem with the chosen product, the pipe under the sink, is that it does not have any
filtering material that will purify the sink wastewater flowing through it. Due to this, the wastewater
remains contaminated with microbial contaminants and other suspended particles from salts, food
materials, household detergents and chemicals, and bacteria and cannot be reused as drinking water or
for other household uses. The conservation of water by reusing the sink wastewater, which will
contribute to lowering water bills, saving energy, lessening one’s carbon footprint, and preserving water
for the future, cannot be practiced. Moreover, the contaminants that remain in the sink wastewater from
household cleaners can significantly harm the environment. Some of its negative effects on the
environment are that these can change soil characteristics and trigger algal blooms in ponds or lakes.

Viable Solution

The viable solution for the above problem is the utilization of a filtering material that is capable of
filtering out even the smallest and most persistent particulates present in the sink wastewater. With this
in mind, our group came up with the idea of employing the use of a sink wastewater purifier, which we
innovated and enriched with powdered activated coconut carbon. Our group chose to innovate our filter
with activated coconut carbon because we recognize its great capability to get the active filtration done
in a short amount of time. With activated coconut carbon contained in the sink wastewater filtration
system, wastewater from the sink that is used to wash our hands can be filtered successfully. Bacteria,
suspended particulates, and toxins will also be removed during the filtration process, therefore providing
us with clean, safe, and drinkable water. With this, health risks can be successfully eliminated. Through
our chosen innovation, water wastage can be halted since most of the water from the sink will now be
easily reused. Moreover, our chosen innovation will give way to the better conservation of water,
conservation of energy, and the preservation of more water for the present and future generations.

Initial Design

Figure 1. Initial Design of Wastewater Filter

The wastewater input point has a wide funnel to ensure that the filter would waste not a drop of water
upon connecting the faucet to the pipe connector. The wide funnel was removed and changed into a
tighter connector upon modification because the innovative input point would secure the water flow
regardless of its inflow. In the modified wastewater filter, a screen or strainer was also added to
guarantee no solid or unwanted materials in the filtered water. Moreover, these strainers were inserted
from the second to the fourth compartment. Also, in the modified wastewater filter, each compartment
secures the beads, activated carbon, and other chemicals inside the filter and does not separate the
compartments when higher water pressure is applied to the wastewater filter. Additionally, the modified
exterior design contains buttons to manually pull out the compartment for cleaning and bead or
chemical replacement purposes. Other than that, the once wide mouth output point was changed into a
narrow output point to make the outflow of water easier to control.
Final Design

Figure 3. Sink Wastewater Purifier External View.

Figure 4. Sink Wastewater Purifier Cross-Section View.

Technical Specifications

A. External Parts

At the beginning of the parts there would be the wastewater input point or a funnel, a cylindrical-like
part with a broad, elliptical top and a narrow; it is used to place any fluids into small-mouthed
containers, such as bottles. The primary purpose of the funnel from the innovation is to ensure that no
water drops into the ground when it is pouring into the filtration process. This part from the water
purification instrument used in its design should then be strong enough to endure the load of the
delivered water and no reaction from other substances that are mixed from the water.

Different components are placed inside a compartment of the same size (about six inches in diameter
and two inches in height). It is a blue circular container that serves the purpose of holding all the
chemical components involved in the wastewater filter. To make sure that water still passes through each
part, there are small holes pierced at the bottom of the compartment depending on what must be put in
it wherein the holes are not bigger than the chemical or beads involved. Made out of plastic, it is
designed to be durable and long-lasting to carry moderately heavy chemicals and beads. There are a
total of four compartments for this filter product.

After each chemical compartment, the single-disc filter screen is a circular sheet of stainless steel with
square microholes. At least 83% of the steel is pierced with small square holes to ensure that even the
tiniest circular impurity we can see with our eyes does not go together with the final filtered water. They
are integrated between two compartments which can be replaced by simply removing a compartment
first and then pulling it out from its holder. There are a total of three filter screens in the product.

The compartment button is an elliptical rounded that is attached to the surface of the compartment. The
word button (periodically understood as a control button or push button) directs to any rounded
materials that serve as a pushing circle to turn on or off something attached to it. The compartment
button from the innovation pushes a button to open the compartment and quickly get the energy filter
beads, carbon from coconut, carbon with other chemicals, and mineral beads and change them when
they are no longer doing the work in the filtration process.

The quality to which water has been purified is typically set by the bottom of the filtration instrument or
rendered as filtered water that goes through the output point. Since it is almost incomprehensible to
scrutinize water based on appearance, numerous procedures, such as activated coconut carbon, energy
filter beads, coconut-based activated carbon with other chemicals, mineral filter beads, and filter
screens, have been developed to sustain quality water at the same time economically affordable. This
serves as the finishing result where organic, inorganics are removed.

B. Internal Parts - Sink Wastewater Purifying Chemicals

The top compartment of the filter contains energy filter beads appearing in white color and made of
Calcium sulfite. This chemical compound is produced by burning a small amount of coal and scrubbing it
with limestone. Energy filter beads are very distinctive for it has the means to provide mechanical and
biological filtration process. The energy beads are a type of rock that functions to float and strain the
bacteria and phosphorus-rich chemicals from the wastewater. These can also generate continuous
microcurrents to improve the biodegradation and recovery of the water. Due to that, the energy filter
beads can release far infrared rays with a wavelength of 4 to 1000 microns to ionize and remove some
impurities in the water. These beads alone can already provide water with weak alkalinity. However, the
beads cannot remove the haziness and the stench of the water. Moreover, the water shall undergo
further purification to possess good quality and safety for human health.
The activated coconut carbon is contained in the second level of the sinkwater purifier filter. The
activated coconut carbon is a black powder-like material that is used to filter impurities from water. The
black appearance of activated carbon comes from burning the coconut shell until it decomposes into
char and ash. The activated coconut carbon is an effective material used to filtrate impurities found in
water because it has an exceptional capacity to attract and accommodate impure particles from a
selected sample. Activated coconut carbon has a greater capacity to filtrate larger volumes of liquids as
compared to normal activated carbon. This is because activated coconut carbon is more porous than
normal activated carbon. With activated coconut carbon’s great amount of pores, filtration can be
continuously done on increased liquid proportions. Moreover, as the activated coconut carbon filters out
the impure particles from a liquid, it also has the capacity to detoxify the liquid from bacteria and other
toxins. The activated coconut carbon then ensures that the liquid is properly filtered and fit for
consumption.

The coconut-based activated carbon with other chemicals, caustic soda, granular chlorine, and granular
ferric hydroxide, contained in the third compartment from the top, is a combination of water purifying
chemicals that eliminate polluting substances in the sink wastewater. The activated carbon is similar to
that contained in the second compartment. The caustic soda or sodium hydroxide is a strong alkali that
helps increase the pH level and remove the heavy metal particles from the sink wastewater. This
chemical is capable of doing these because when it adjusts the pH of the water, the metals will form
insoluble precipitates that are easily removed from the wastewater. It is industrially formed by salt
electrolysis as the sodium from the sodium chloride reacts with water while chlorine escapes as a gas.
The granular chlorine or calcium hypochlorite is a dry crystallized chlorine compound that helps in
eliminating microbial contaminants in the sink wastewater by breaking their cell walls and then oxidizing
them as a water disinfecting agent. It can destroy the cellular components of microorganisms with the
help of hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite that are formed as granular chlorine interacts with water. It
results from the process of treating lime with chlorine gas. The granular ferric hydroxide is a chemical
absorbent that removes hazardous metals such as lead and nitrate metals in the sink wastewater. Its high
metallic adsorption capacity allows it to eliminate the metals in the water. It is produced when a salt
consisting of a nitrate ion and sulfate precipitating cation is added to ferrous sulfate, the resulting
precipitate with impurities formed is removed, then the nitrate ion is converted to nitric acid by adding
sulfuric acid, and the hydrogen ion concentration is reduced for the iron to precipitate out as ferric
hydroxide.

The set of mineral filter beads, also called medical or Maifan stones, usually appear as orange beads
placed at the last compartment of the filter. It contains several natural micronutrient elements, mainly
calcium, zinc, iron, copper, magnesium, and selenium, all beneficial to our blood and fluid system. Its
solid and double adsorptive property, or how much things can adhere to their surface, can remove
pollutants, heavy metals, and other impurities from the sink wastewater and lower bacterial levels. This
also accelerates the ammonia reduction as harmful substances such as ammonia nitrogen and hydrogen
sulfide are also separated. Aside from using it as a filtration media, they condition the filtered water by
releasing rich minerals and making it more alkaline and not acidic through the removal of unwanted
substances and neutralization of acids.