title: Water filtration using plant xylem.
abstract: Effective point-of-use devices for providing safe drinking water are urgently needed to reduce the global burden of waterborne disease. Here we show that plant xylem from the sapwood of coniferous trees--a readily available, inexpensive, biodegradable, and disposable material--can remove bacteria from water by simple pressure-driven filtration. Approximately 3 cm(3) of sapwood can filter water at the rate of several liters per day, sufficient to meet the clean drinking water needs of one person. The results demonstrate the potential of plant xylem to address the need for pathogen-free drinking water in developing countries and resource-limited settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michael S H
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Boutilier
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jongho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chambers
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Varsha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Venkatesh
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Rohit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Karnik
mesh_terms: D060766:Drinking Water / Q000592:standards*; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010316:Particle Size; D028223:Pinus; D011312:Pressure; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*; D014934:Wood; D052584:Xylem / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water