An American University of Sharjah (AUS) team, comprising students and a faculty member from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), recently won the Best Outstanding Team Award at the Sharjah Sustainability Awards held as part of the Sharjah Innovation Week.

Aya Hosameldeen Mostafa and Mohammed Seif Adawla Mohammed, under the supervision of Dr. Mohammad Al-Sayah; Professor of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences, came up with an innovative and novel way of cleaning waste water from industrial plants using simple cotton.

The aim of the project was to make the UAE more sustainable and environmentally friendly by using chemically modified cotton fibers to remove heavy metals from polluted water. The team targeted wastewater coming from industrial zones that has a high concentration of heavy metals. The cotton is modified it to bind the metals and turns the cotton into sponge that can absorb metal from wastewater.