Fionn Ferreira: Ferrofluid extraction of microplastics from water
Ferrofluid extraction of microplastics from water.
Kayaking near his West Cork home, Ferreira saw plastic stuck to an oil-coated rock and put two facts together: oil binds non-polar plastic, and magnetite binds to a magnet. Add a ferrofluid of magnetite in vegetable oil to contaminated water and a magnet lifts out the oil, plastic and all. His ISEF abstract reports 87.6 per cent average removal across ten plastic types. He won the Google Science Fair grand prize in 2019, placed third in the European Patent Office's Young Inventors Prize in 2023, and is now a doctoral researcher at ETH Zürich.
IP note
Website states a 2020 application; no published record located; company Fionn & Co..
Recognition
Google Science Fair grand prize 2019; EPO Young Inventors Prize 3rd, 2023.
What this means for a student inventor in India
[Editor: 120–200 words connecting this story to the Indian route — Section 6 (any true inventor may apply), provisional vs complete specification, disclosure at fairs (Section 31), renewals, and who owns what when a school is involved. Link to the relevant MYCrave guide.]
Related young innovators
- Boyan Slat — The Ocean Cleanup
- Gitanjali Rao — Tethys
- Deepika Kurup — Solar photocatalytic water purifier
Sources
[Editor: list the 2–4 primary sources from the research notes for this entry, with the date checked.]
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