Project Narrative

Ashby Chart with Porosity Considerations

Example of EcoAudit for Steel

🚰 Problem & Goal

Byron Bay, Australia faces the issue of ciprofloxacin contamination in its rivers due to the wastewater effluent from its hospital.

Problem Statement: Design a cost-effective detection system to indicate when a harmful concentration of ciprofloxacin from the water effluent from Byron Bay’s hospital’s wastewater is reached. The system should then reduce this concentration level in the wastewater through filters and chemical means, to output waters with safer levels of ciprofloxacin.

Project Goal: Utilize materials science principles and natural & applied science concepts to select and justify a fiber to be used as a filter fiber.

🔧 Completed Tasks:

1️⃣ Utilized Ansys Granta EduPack to find top-ranked materials

• Derived appropriate MPIs and plotted them
• Generated Ashby Charts

2️⃣ Conducted EcoAudits on top-ranked materials

• Utilized Granta EduPack’s EcoAudit function to generate EcoAudits for top 3 materials
• Utilized the info to make LCA (lifecycle analysis) diagrams

3️⃣ Conducted research using peer-reviewed sources

• Research on the current state of ciprofloxacin filters
• Research the top 3 selected materials (uses, durability, etc.)
• Research on Australian regulations and international sustainability requirements

Key Features of the Project:

Four Different MPI Calculations and Ashby Charts to select the best material for the filter

Three EcoAudits Generated for the Top 3 Materials

Three LCA Diagrams Created for Top 3 Materials

Timeline of project:

→ January 7th, 2025 - February 11th, 2025

• 1 week for background information research, problem definition, and objective tree generation
• 1 week for metric generation, morph chart usage, and research into regulations and sustainability of filtration devices
• 1 week for MPI derivations
• 1 week for Ashby Chart creation, selection of top material, and porosity calculations
• 1 week for EcoAudits and LCA diagram creation
• 1 day for project presentation
• Toggle for the project’s Gantt Chart

Team’s Work and Personal Contributions

Team Contributions:

✔️ Created objective tree and problem statement, outlined metrics, generated morph chart

• Through brainstorming, discussions, and questioning a complete idea of our objectives was gained
• A proper problem statement, as well as the functions, constraints, and objectives of the project, were detailed

Objective Tree for Filtration System

Morph Chart for Filtration Process

Metrics to Measure Success of Each Process

✔️ Derived MPIs (material performance index):

• As a team, selected the top four criteria the filter material had to meet, and derived four MPIs accordingly
• Assigned an MPI to each member to be made into Ashby Charts in Ansys Granta

The MPIs compared:

• Young’s Modulus vs Cost
• Young’s Modulus vs CO2 emissions during production
• Yield Strength vs Cost
• Yield Strength vs CO2 emissions during production

✔️ Conducted research on the water contamination regulations of Australia

• Utilizing diverse sources, such as the WSAA (Water Services Association of Australia)’s 2022 publication on water filtration regulations, gained an understanding of expectations for filtration systems, and materials selected for filter

✔️ Utilized a decision matrix to choose the top choice of fiber to use within the filter

• After comparing the top 5 materials from each individually generated Ashby Chart, the three materials that came up most often were selected and put into a matrix, to find out which would be best to use within the filter

Our top 3 materials

Decision matrix shows that polypropylene fiber would be the best choice for the filter

✔️ Created and presented a presentation outlining our selection process and selected material, and completed a design report

• Assigned different parts of the presentation and the design report, and combined our work to complete them on time

Personal Contributions:

✔️ Completed research memo on the current state of ciprofloxacin filtration systems

• Using peer-reviewed sources, gained a deep understanding of how ciprofloxacin affects humans and the environment
• Learned about current technology involved in filtering ciprofloxacin from wastewater