A High School Student Just Built a Water Filter That Removes 96% of Microplastics, Without Expensive Equipment [View all]

[usonian]

https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/03/teen-built-water-filter-microplastics/

A high school student in Virginia has built a filtration system that removes more than 95 percent of microplastics from drinking water. Her approach uses a magnetic liquid, ferrofluid, to pull tiny plastic particles out of the flow, without relying on traditional filter membranes.

Mia Heller didn’t start in a lab, but in her own house. As explained by Smithsonian Magazine, her family had installed a filtration system that worked, but needed constant maintenance, with filters that had to be replaced again and again. That routine became the starting point for her project. She wanted something simpler, with fewer parts to swap out.

Over time, her design evolved into a three-part system: one chamber for the water, one for the ferrofluid, and a smaller unit where the actual separation happens.



The principle is fairly direct. The ferrofluid sticks to microplastic particles, and a magnetic field pulls the whole mixture out of the water. Then the fluid gets recovered and reused, so the system doesn’t rely on disposable components.

Her prototype removed 95.52 percent of microplastics and was able to recover 87.15 percent of the ferrofluid. That puts it in the same range, or even slightly above,what traditional water treatment plants can achieve, which is typically between 70 and over 90 percent.