Chemist wins Grainger Challenge for Sustainability
Abul Hussam wins the National Academy of Engineering Grainger Challenge for his SONO filter for removing arsenic from drinking water.
Analytical chemist Abul Hussam of George Mason University won the $1 million first prize in the Grainger Challenge for Sustainability. The challenge, organized by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in conjunction with the Grainger Foundation, was aimed at stimulating the development of ingenious arsenic-removal devices tailored for developing countries.
Naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater is a worldwide problem, but the most severely affected areas are in Bangladesh and the neighboring West Bengal region of India. Estimates suggest that in Bangladesh alone, about 10 million tube wells are supplying 77–95 million people with arsenic-contaminated drinking water.
Hussam was born in Kushtia (Bangladesh) where, in 1999, he first detected arsenic in drinking water in his own family’s tube wells. After he confirmed his findings in other parts of Bangladesh, Hussam decided to devote part of his research at George Mason University to developing a low-cost technology for arsenic filtration. Nine years later, he is the winner of the challenge, and his arsenic filter, called the SONO filter, is providing arsenic-free drinking water to 14 districts in Bangladesh.
The SONO filter is a point-of-use system that provides enough clean drinking water for one or two families. The simple design consists of three buckets piled one above the other. Water enters the top bucket and filters first through coarse river sand from local rivers and a composite iron matrix (CIM) that took “years of upgrading and developing,” says Hussam. While the sand traps coarse particles, the CIM captures inorganic arsenic. The second bucket contains more of the coarse river sand, and wood charcoal that removes other inorganic contaminants. Finally, the bottom bucket, which contains fine river sand and wet brick chips, removes fine particles and stabilizes the water flow.
A single SONO filter costs $35–40 and lasts about 5 years. The only maintenance, if any, involves changing the coarse sand layers every 6 months.
Hussam’s SONO filter was exceptional—not only was it efficient and the least expensive of all entries, but it had also passed its real test in the field, says Charles O’Melia, the chair of the Grainger Challenge panel of judges. “There are about 21,000 of these units already established in Bangladesh,” he says. And some of them have been running for 3–4 years without any apparent need for replacement, he adds.
The Grainger Challenge also acknowledged two runners-up for the award. Arup K. Sengupta, John E. Greenleaf, Lee M. Blaney, Owen E. Boyd, Arun K. Deb, and the nonprofit organization Water for People won the $200,000 second prize for a community water-treatment system that is in use in 160 locations in West Bengal. The Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, run by Procter & Gamble, won the $100,000 third prize for its PUR water purification system.
