PLAINVIEW—Wayland Baptist University ’s School of Math & Sciences is joining forces with the School of Business and Wayland’s Missions Center to put lab work into practical use—providing pure water to people in developing nations.
Joel Boyd, associate professor of chemistry, has led a research group several years to develop a simple, cost-effective means to purify water. The process his team has developed removes impurities such as metals, arsenic, pesticides and herbicides, and it converts algae, bacteria and protozoa to nontoxic, inert substances. At this point, the school already has one patent in place and another pending.
Now, the School of Math & Science will turn the process over to the School of Business, where students and faculty work to determine the best way to market the products to consumers.
Once the purification systems are in production, they will be sold with the proceeds funding mission projects around the world.
Purification systems
Specifically, proceeds will be used to produce more purification systems that can be distributed through the work of the Missions Center to developing countries where pure water is unavailable.
“This is our chance to do things together and that we cannot do ourselves. We need to function together as a team, analogous to the Body of Christ,” Boyd said.
The project “has the potential to change lives around the world,” Wayland Executive Vice President and Provost Bobby Hall said.
“Through this process, you can take the rankest water you can find and turn it into drinkable water.”
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The relatively simple production process can create purification systems that can be used in something as small as a personal water bottle for outdoor enthusiasts, or larger systems that can clean coy ponds. In essence, they could also be produced on a massive scale to purify water for a village.
Preliminary meetings
Hall and Boyd, together with Rick Shaw, director of the Wayland Missions Center, held a preliminary meeting with students interested in working on the project.
Hall ensured them Wayland is committed to this project, having funneled additional funding to the research aspects of the project over the last few years and making a commitment to do so as the project progresses.
“There is no interest in profitability, and there are no strings attached,” Hall said. “We are using the resources at this institution to make a difference in this world.”
There is no specific timeline for completion of the project as groups from the School of Business and Missions Center will need to research their specific areas.
While the business and marketing students are trying to determine the best way to market the device for consumers, the mission students will research developing countries to determine where the technology will be appropriate and accepted.
Once in place, the technology to produce the purification systems can be passed on to these cultures that can then produce their own systems as needed. The process uses basic materials that are easily accessed.
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