Bryo/System

The Bryo/System was conceptualized for collecting and purifying water where it is both plentiful and scarce, providing people with an efficient option for producing potable water in various environments.

The idea for developing this water collection and filtration system arose when I was hiking and ran low on water. I had a filtration system that would allow me to make potable water out of whatever I could collect or suck directly through the filter. We were nearing some water sources that are usually plentiful; however, they turned out to be ephemeral. All that was available was a patch of damp dirt. My filter was of little use without pooling water. There are many survival techniques that could be employed to extract the water: the straightforward technique would be to use a t-shirt or cloth to sop up enough to collect and filter. While I was not in a life-threatening situation, I wondered if there would be a better way to collect water in scenarios like this for someone in a more extreme predicament.

Inspired by Nature

Bryo/System, especially the Bryo/Cloth portion of the kit, was driven by nature’s efficiency at water management. I spent a 10-day excursion in the diverse ecosystems of Costa Rica’s national forests conducting biomimetic research. Time spent in both tropical dry forest and cloud forest gave a glimpse into widely contrasting ecosystems, from desert-like conditions to completely saturated rainforests.

I found countless ways in which plants dealt with water: some had leaves with hair to directionally manipulate water flow away from the base of the plant to prevent over-hydration, while others did not have root systems and so collected water by the leaves themselves. A group of non-vascular plants that belong to the bryophyte group are prevalent across the contrasting wet and dry environments in Costa Rica, as well as throughout the world. Observing their ability to collect sufficient water from such varying environments made me think to implement some of their techniques into how humans could better collect water.

bry·o·phyte

/ˈbrīəˌfīt/
noun BOTANY
noun: bryophyte; plural noun: bryophytes
a small flowerless green plant of the division Bryophyta, which comprises the mosses and liverworts.

Experimentation

I tested a variety of polymers with an electrospinning machine, seeking to reproduce a bryophyte-like filtration medium. I tried many variations of non-woven membranes in hopes of creating something that would simultaneously absorb and purify water in a similar manner to the bryophyte’s leaf structures.

Up Close

The photos to the left are of moss specimens I collected in Costa Rica to get a look at the leaf structures and see how they utilize capillary action and surface geometry to allow direct absorption of water. This ability allows bryophytes to dry out completely for extended periods of time and rehydrate almost instantly, seemingly springing back to life.

Development

From sketching ideation to prototyping, this project evolved through many variations that utilized the principles found in my bryophyte research. User testing revealed that a two-part system (Bryo/Cloth and Bryo/Bottle) would maximize versatility and efficiency of each part. The Bryo/Cloth is meant for water collection from damp surfaces and in extreme situations where water is scarce. The Bryo/Bottle works with the Bryo/Cloth to filter the collected water, or can be used on its own for both collection and filtration if water is plentiful.

This project was taken to the proof of concept stage; further refinements would be needed to make this manufacturable.