Water quality and scarcity have been labeled "the defining crises of the 21st century" and are the main drivers behind the challenges and increasing regulations that limit the projected growth of the water industry over the coming decades. International reports agree that global water consumption doubles every 20 years. Modern water treatment technologies based on the active sludge method have significant disadvantages, including limitations on heavy metal removal and significant reliance on chemicals. Because of the urgent crisis in water quality and scarcity, greener and more cost-effective technologies are in demand. This NSF I-Corps team project will study the market prospects of technologies based on research that had elucidated the action mechanisms involved in removing contaminants from water using natural materials such as mucilage from cactus plants that are surface active. Cactus mucilage, the gooey part of cactus plants, is composed of flexible molecules capable of removing water pollutants. Different extraction methodologies can lead to different fractions of the cactus mucilage that are effective at removing water pollutants by engulfing heavy metals, flocculating sediments, coagulating bacteria, and dispersing heavy organic molecules such as those found in crude oils.
The desire to treat polluted and waste water to a level suitable for beneficial reuse plays an increasing role in market growth. The technologies based on cactus mucilage have the potential to treat ground/surface water, well water, and waste water to EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) standards. These technologies also provide an eco-friendly alternative for cleaning oil contamination. They also can serve as a disaster recovery mechanism to provide mobile treatment units and emergency water purification kits. These technologies are natural, biodegradable, compostable, and provide affordable methods of water purification using cactus extracts that will stem the tide of water bottle proliferation, and will advance the filtration market by reducing the large, unfriendly carbon and plastic environmental footprints.
