Overview
- Ferreira received the BAMBI in the Unsere Erde category in Munich for his work to remove microplastics from water.
- He developed the approach as a teenager after observing that oil attracts plastic, later creating a reusable magnetic fluid.
- The fluid uses plant-based oil combined with iron particles and can release captured microplastics when exposed to strong magnetic pulses.
- Ferreira says he founded a company and has built larger prototypes, including one he describes as sized for a sewage treatment plant.
- He reports that actor Robert Downey Jr. became his first major investor after they met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and he continues chemistry doctoral research at ETH Zurich.