Chhabra, Meenu

The availability of safe drinking water in non-networked rural areas and disaster-affected zones is dependent on point-of-use water filters. This study describes the design and performance assessment of a personal portable ceramic water filter named “sip-up.” Four sample variants were made using clay, exfoliated graphite (EG), and sawdust as raw materials. Samples were made using a mold to ensure uniformity and sintered at 850 °C. The experimental results showed that the sample containing the maximum amount of sawdust had the highest porosity of 36.07 ± 1.8%, providing an average flow rate of 0.61 ml/min in passive mode. The average pore size radius of all variants varied in the range of 1–10 nm, classifying the material as having a mesoporous structure. Compressive test results indicate that the addition of an organic additive (sawdust) decreases the compressive strength of filters as compared to non-organic additives. It has been observed that the addition of EG to clay does not significantly improve water filtration parameters as compared to samples containing only sawdust and clay. However, due to the smaller pore size, samples containing EG performed better in E. coli removal as compared to sawdust-containing samples. The final prototype can act as a single-use personal water filtration device that can be inserted into any commercial water bottle, making it an affordable and effective solution for hikers, travelers, and natural disasters such as floods and cyclones.