UNAIR NEWS – The earthquake disaster in Flores moved three Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) students to contribute in helping the victims. They develop BAMBOO-PURE innovation, a water filtration system that uses a combination of betung bamboo and porous ceramic to produce clean water in disaster evacuation zones. This brilliant innovation earned them the first place trophy in the scientific writing competition on Sunday, August 30, 2026 at SIAGA Awards 2026, presented by Universitas Islam Indonesia.
This achievement serves as clear evidence that Ksatria Airlangga continue to strive to give positive impact and benefits to their surrounding community. The three of the competition team members, Abdullah Muhammad Irsyad Syafiudin, Kesya Azka Najhan, and Deananda Dzakiyyah Putri explained that they worked together to divide the research tasks needed to create this innovation. Syafiudin himself admitted that the biggest challenge was balancing his time between research and academic activities.
“We divide the tasks from identifying problems, exploring potential solutions, and assessing implementation. For example, Najhan is responsible for identifying the problem, she gathers data on clean water shortages during disasters. Then my task is to explore the potential solutions, what kind of innovation that suits the problem. Meanwhile Dea determines whether this innovation is feasible, and if so, how it can be implemented,” he said.
BAMBOO-PURE innovation
This innovation began with the question of what refugees need the most. They discovered that one of those things is clean water. However, if they use bottled drinking water, it actually generates a lot of waste.
“We thought, why don’t we just filter the water on-site directly. After all, it is more effective and economical in terms of transportation, we wouldn’t have to bring tons of bottled drinking water. So, we looked for the raw materials that could be used for water filtration but were easily available in the disaster-affected area. Then we found betung bamboo and we decided to give it a try,” he explained.
Najhan explained that the choice of betung bamboo and porous ceramic was based on the fact that these materials were easy to find and easy to work with. She emphasized that creating this innovation does not require an expert, even ordinary women can easily operate this innovation.
“This device can be taken anywhere during a disaster and it uses gravity, so it doesn’t require electricity. We turn potential into an innovation, and this innovation is sustainable because it doesn’t create any additional plastic bottle waste,” she added.
How BAMBOO-PURE works
Dea explained that the BAMBOO-PURE system consists of three main layers. The first layer filters out mud, fine sand, and organic particles. The second layer absorbs odors, organic compounds, and heavy metals such as lead. Finally, the third layer inactivates bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella, so it reduces the risk of waterborne diseases in evacuation sites.
“The first layer consists of coconut husk and silica sand. The second layer is our own innovation, it consists of activated carbon derived from betung bamboo which is processed through pyrolysis at a temperature approximately 800℃, resulting in activated carbon with a surface area of about 343,94 square meters per gram. Finally, the third layer consists of silver-coated porous ceramic; the porous ceramic, with pore sizes ranging from 0.2 to 0.5 microns, is then impregnated with silver nitrate,” she explained.
Author: Putri Andini
Editor: Ragil Kukuh Imanto
