
via OSU
Manta rays strain their tiny food from mouthfuls of seawater in a novel way that could hold the key to better filtration in a variety of commercial applications, new research by Oregon State University shows.
Published today in Science Advances, the findings explain that manta rays filter zooplankton, mesoplankton and microcrustaceans with an apparatus different from anything previously seen in any biological or industrial system.
“The most common type of filter is a sieve filter, where a particle-containing fluid is passed through a membrane with pores smaller than the particles,” said study co-author Jim Strother, assistant professor of integrative biology in the OSU College of Science.
Sieve filters include everything from a kitchen colander that strains pasta to membrane filters that produce ultrapure water. Other filter mechanisms are hydrosol filtration, such as the fiber filters in HVAC systems, and cyclonic filtration, used in bagless vacuum cleaners.
“There are lots of different types of filters used for many purposes worldwide, but they’re all based on just a few fundamental mechanisms,” said Strother, who collaborated with corresponding author Misty Paig-Tran and Raj Divi of Cal State Fullerton.
Manta rays, close relatives of sharks that can measure more than 20 feet across, eat by bringing plankton-rich water into their mouths as they swim. They filter and ingest the plankton and then flush the remaining water out their gill slits.
Many filtration systems are prone to clogging as they collect whatever they’re filtering out, but manta rays use arrays of leaf-like lobes to bounce food particles away from the filter.
Water passing over the lobes creates a complex pattern of swirling eddies, and food particles in the flow hit the lobes and move away. The setup allows the fish to retain food organisms much smaller than the pores.
“Manta rays appear to utilize a novel mechanism for filtering particles out of fluids,” Strother said. “Their filtering apparatus has a special structure that causes plankton particles to ricochet off the filter and become concentrated in the mouth cavity, so the fish can then ingest them.”
Since the particles are repelled by the filter but not captured, the filter has several highly desirable properties, including that it can be operated at high flow rates and is extremely resistant to clogging.
“This paper establishes the basic mechanism, and we are currently looking at whether we can adapt this mechanism for engineered systems,” Strother said. “For example, one future direction is exploring whether this can be applied to wastewater treatment in order to address the emerging threat from microplastics pollution.”
Learn more: Manta rays’ food-capturing mechanism may hold key to better filtration systems
The Latest on: Water filtration
via Google News
The Latest on: Water filtration
- Water Filtration Systems Market 2019 Report By Application, By End-User ,Size, Share, Trend And Segment Forecasts To 2024 on February 6, 2019 at 9:16 pm
Market Analysis Research Report On “Global Water Filtration Systems Market 2019 Industry Growth, Size, Trends, Share, Opportunities And Forecast To 2024 ” To Their Research Database. Water Filtration ... […]
- Global Water Filters Market Emerging Trends, Size, Share and Growth Analysis-2019 on February 6, 2019 at 10:31 am
Feb 06, 2019 (WiredRelease via COMTEX) -- Global Water Filters Industry 2019 is an extensive, professional analysis bringing research data which will be relevant for new entrants and recognized player... […]
- Melt-blown Polypropylene Filters Market Size Worth USD 3.3 billion by 2026: Acumen Research and Consulting on February 6, 2019 at 10:00 am
Acumen Research and Consulting has published a new report titled ‘Melt-Blown Polypropylene Filters Market (By Media: Liquid, Air; By Application: Food & Beverages, Water & Wastewater ... […]
- Water Filters & Purification Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players – Sundylee, Hanston, Doulton, Flanne, 3M, Honeywell on February 6, 2019 at 5:08 am
Wiseguyreports.Com adds “Water Filters & Purification Market –Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2025” To Its Research Database. Report Details: This rep... […]
- Refrigerator Water Filters market projected to reach 1110 million US$ by the end of 2025 on February 6, 2019 at 1:25 am
News from QY Research, Inc. Refrigerator water filters combine mechanical and carbon filtration to capture waterborne impurities before they reach your glass. In the coming years there is an increasin... […]
- Water filters available for Benton Harbor residents this week on February 5, 2019 at 4:37 am
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (WNDU) - Water filters will be available for Benton Harbor residents this week. This comes months after multiple homes in the city tested positive for higher than acceptable lead ... […]
- Berrien County Health Department will offer free water filters to city water customers on February 5, 2019 at 2:12 am
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -- The Berrien County Health Department will be offering free water filters Benton Harbor City Water Customers. The health department is offering filters that will help reduce the ... […]
- Microwave-Enhanced Membrane Filtration Technology for Water Treatment Designed by Dr. Wen Zhang's Group at New Jersey Institute of Technology on February 1, 2019 at 4:15 pm
Membrane filtration is an efficient and widely used chemical separation and water purification technology. Yet, the membrane technology suffers from drawbacks such as membrane fouling and inadequate r... […]
- Best Water Filters: Removing Nasty Impurities From Water Through Cleansing on January 25, 2019 at 5:50 pm
Humans can live for a decent length of time without food, but we simply cannot survive more than a few days without water. The average person needs to take in just over half a gallon of water a day fo... […]
via Bing News