Harnessing Ultrasound for Microplastic Filtration

Team projectadvancedInternational

Justin Huang and Victoria Ou · The Woodlands, Texas
Gordon E. Moore Award for Positive Outcomes for Future Generations ($50,000) · Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair · 2024

Abstract

A prototype filtration system that uses acoustic force from high-frequency ultrasound to push suspended microplastic particles out of water, with no physical filter medium to clog or replace.

What they found

The result, in the terms the project itself reported it.

Removed between 84% and 94% of suspended microplastic particles in a single pass in laboratory tests.

Why it worked

ResearchForge's reading of the public record — not the students' words, and not the judges' reasoning.

A filter with nothing to clog sidesteps the failure mode that ends most filtration projects. Reporting a range rather than a single best number is the honest form, and it is more persuasive than a headline figure.

Key methods

Acoustophoretic separation
High-frequency ultrasound generation
Single-pass removal-rate measurement
Microplastic particle counting

What to take from this

ResearchForge's reading of the public record — not the students' words, and not the judges' reasoning. Borrow the habits and decisions, never the project itself.

Report the range you observed, not your best run — a range reads as a measurement, a single number reads as a demo
Removing the consumable removes the maintenance argument against your design

Archive entries are summaries compiled for study. Read them for how a project was structured, argued, and defended — not as a template to reproduce. Copying someone else's project is the one thing that will end yours.

Compiled by ResearchForge from the Society for Science public award announcement linked on this record. Names, hometowns, project titles and reported results are as published. The "why it worked" and "what to take from this" notes are ResearchForge's editorial reading of that public record — they are not statements by the students and not the judges' rationale. All rights to the original projects remain with their authors; no project materials are rehosted here.