Moroti Adegboyega

Plastic pollution threatens global ecosystems; aquatic plastic debris can fragment into smaller particles, be ingested by organisms, and transport associated chemicals through trophic levels. If aquatic plastic contamination is not stringently mitigated, both marine biodiversity and public health face significant, systemic risks. Existing remediation methods like nets, trawlers and filters often harm biological life and heavily rely on manual labour, maintenance and intervention. Plastic pollution cleanup needs to be selective and autonomous. This project investigates whether an AI (Artificial Intelligence)-guided ferrofluid-assisted collection system can selectively remove plastic debris from water bodies. A new ferrofluid and magnetic drum system, which selectively remediates plastics, was created, and a plastic-targeting AI pilot was trained using a handmade dataset. For validation, a controlled proof-of-concept…