{"id":1955,"date":"2023-04-05T21:45:11","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T21:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/?page_id=1955"},"modified":"2026-04-13T14:29:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:29:06","slug":"wl-publiclibrary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wl-publiclibrary\/","title":{"rendered":"West Lafayette Public Library Biowall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Biowall Team 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Team working on Biowall 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Biowall team awarded Second place at the Engagement and Service-Learning Summit 2023 (Poster)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Biowall before installation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Biowall after installation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Proposed Watering System<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Introduction<\/strong><\/div>\n
A\u00a0<\/span>Biowall<\/span> is a device that cleans indoor air using plants and growth <\/span>media. The growth media contains a microbe community that captures\u00a0<\/span>and breaks down Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and\u00a0<\/span>Particulate Matter (PM).<\/span>\u200b<\/span>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Biowall<\/span>\u00a0has tray filled with Coconut coir, activated carbon, and\u00a0<\/span>aerating chips, and pulls air through them. The roots of the plants in\u00a0<\/span>the growth media then absorbs the broken-down contaminants into the\u00a0<\/span>plants. This process is called Phytoremediation\u00a0<\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n

The building of the\u00a0<\/span>Biowall<\/span>\u00a0was led by four students from varying\u00a0<\/span>education levels and background, and with the assistance from two\u00a0<\/span>student organizations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Objective:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Biowall\u00a0needs to be able to:<\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n

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  • Fit in the space available in the West Lafayette Public\u00a0Library\u00a0<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n
  • Be engaging with\u00a0children.\u00a0<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n
  • Explain how it works and improve on the previous generation<\/span>\u200b<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    Impacts<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
    The designing of the\u00a0<\/span>Biowall<\/span>\u00a0allowed students to improve their\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Computer Aided Design (CAD) skills, Computational Fluid Dynamics\u00a0<\/span><\/span>(CFD), and problem-solving skills while working with a metal\u00a0<\/span><\/span>machine shop and non-metal laser cutter.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u200b<\/span><\/span>\u200b<\/span><\/div>\n
    To complete the project, students from two student organizations were\u00a0<\/span><\/span>recruited, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Purdue Student Branch and Boiler\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Green Initiative (BGI).\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u200b<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    Reflection and Conclusion<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u200b<\/span><\/p>\n

    A major challenge that students faced during the\u00a0<\/span>Biowall<\/span>\u00a0project was\u00a0<\/span>the lack of information on past designs decisions.<\/span>\u200b
    \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u200bThe students planned together to make a list of the potential solutions\u00a0<\/span>and discussed the engineering constraints and narrowed down\u00a0<\/span>solutions to finalized on the best solution.\u00a0<\/span>\u200b
    \u00a0<\/span>\u200bGoing forward, the team recognized the importance of providing clear\u00a0<\/span>explanations for their design decisions to benefit future development.\u00a0<\/span>\u200b<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Introduction A\u00a0Biowall is a device that cleans indoor air using plants and growth media. The growth media contains a microbe community that captures\u00a0and breaks down Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and\u00a0Particulate Matter (PM).\u200b The\u00a0Biowall\u00a0has tray filled with Coconut coir, activated carbon,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1955","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1955"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2203,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1955\/revisions\/2203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/biowall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}