PhosphoBuddy
A three-tier wastewater filtration system that removes phosphorus using duckweed, biochar, and bacteria — first place at CCCSEF and the UC Berkeley Bioengineering Competition.
- Role
- Lead Hardware Developer
- Dates
- August 2024 — June 2025
- Capabilities
- Hardware prototyping · Environmental & biological systems engineering · Experimental design · Interdisciplinary research · Competition & pitch presentation
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Problem / Opportunity
Excess phosphorus in wastewater drives harmful algal blooms and ecosystem damage — conventional filtration is often costly or chemically intensive.
02
Role & Team
Lead Hardware Developer — system design, prototyping, and testing.
Team Dougherty B — Aarush De, Navya Rawal, Richa Tiwari, and Diya Rajaram, mentored by Darrence Tran and coached by Luis Huertas.
03
Process & Timeline
Designed a three-tier biological filtration system combining duckweed, biochar, and bacteria, then built and tested prototypes to measure phosphorus removal before presenting the system in competition.
04
Technical Approach
Layered filtration architecture pairing biochar's adsorption properties with duckweed and bacterial phosphorus uptake across three sequential treatment tiers.
05
Key Decisions
EDIT: Add this detail once available.
06
Challenges & Iteration
EDIT: Add this detail once available.
07
Results & Outcomes
1st place — CCCSEF
1st place — UC Berkeley Bioengineering Competition
~$3,000 in lab equipment and $1,000+ in grants secured
Won first place at CCCSEF and the UC Berkeley Bioengineering Competition, securing approximately $3,000 in laboratory equipment and more than $1,000 in grants.
08
Reflection
EDIT: Add this detail once available.
09