KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) -- It almost sounds too good to be true, a miracle paper filter that uses nano-particles of silver and other metals to clean viruses and bacteria out of water for pennies a day.
The filter can turn contaminated water into safe drinkable water, which simply isn’t available in many third world countries.
When its inventor and the company she has co-founded, Folia Water of Pittsburgh needed some place to gear up to manufacture their paper filters, they turned to Western Michigan University’s one-of-a-kind paper pilot plant in Kalamazoo.
The filter technology was developed by Dr. Theresa Dankovich while a student doing doctoral research at McGill University. She is now the Chairwoman and Chief Scientist for Folia Water.
The paper that is now being produced by the WMU facility is being turned into books. Each page of the book includes simple instructions on how to use it. The filter is folded and placed into a funnel. Water is then poured through it. Each filter can clean up to 100 liters of water.
The process for manufacturing the paper was refined after several tries this fall with the help of the staff at the facility, which is uniquely designed to take on special projects like this.
WMU Pilot Plants Manager Lon E. Pschigoda says "By utilizing our pilot paper machine, Folia was able to combine several steps in the production process into one continuous process." Pschigoda says. "The flexibility of the equipment and the ingenuity of the operators at our pilot plant helped this trial become a success."
Now paper rolls are being produced and converted into books that are already sold and being readied for distribution.
The pages are recyclable and biodegradable. There is no need for heat, electricity, pumps or machinery. It could solve the problem of contaminated water for 1.8-billion people in the third world.
They have been testing the technology all over the world in South Africa, Ghana, Honduras, Kenya, Bangladesh and Haiti for the last three years and it’s been effective in cleaning even the most contaminated samples.
They claim each page can last weeks and a book could last a year.
Time Magazine called the concept one of the top 100 inventions of 2015, and it’s won other awards since.
Now the plan is to gear up for mass production, turn this book into a bestseller and start saving lives.
It costs about $25 to sponsor a book for a third world family or village.
