15 Facts About Fionn Ferreira

Fionn Miguel Eckardt Ferreira is an Irish inventor, chemistry student and Forbes 30 under 30 listee.

Fionn Ferreira is known for his invention of a method to remove microplastic particles from water using a natural ferrofluid mixture.

Fionn Ferreira, whose full name is Fionn Miguel Eckardt Ferreira, was born in Cork to boat-builder and modeller Anne Eckardt, from Germany and West Cork, and boat-builder Rui Ferreira from Portugal, who had met in the UK in 1994 and settled in Ballydehob, County Cork.

Fionn Ferreira was brought up in Ballydehob and attended St James' primary school in Durrus and subsequently Schull Community College in Schull, completing school at the age of 18 in 2019.

Fionn Ferreira created a methodology to quantify and collect plastic pollution, with a focus on microplastics.

Fionn Ferreira built several inventions using LEGO, bits of wood and some microcontrollers to test for these microplastics.

Fionn Ferreira entered the national science fair, the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, three times, with two of his projects being Let Sanils do the cleaning, An investigation into the antioxidant concentration of different berries using the Briggs-Rauscher reaction in conjunction with a photometer and An investigation into the removal of microplastics from water using ferrofluids.

Fionn Ferreira designed and tested a method to remove microplastics from water, following what he described as thousands of failed attempts.

The highest extraction rates observed in Fionn Ferreira's experiments were for polyesters.

Fionn Ferreira first exhibited the project at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition 2018 where he was awarded the Intel Award, best in category, Intellectual Ventures Award and a first-place award.

Fionn Ferreira subsequently exhibited at ISEF 2018 winning the 1st place American Chemical Society award, 2nd place award in Chemistry, 1st place for Drug Chemical and associated technologies, a scholarship to the University of Arizona and a certificate of honourable mention by the American Statistical Association.

In 2019, Fionn Ferreira exhibited at the 2019 Google Science Fair winning the global grand prize award of $50,000.

Currently, Fionn Ferreira is following a MSc in Chemistry at the University of Groningen.

In 2018 the MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a minor planet after Fionn Ferreira, following his being awarded 2nd place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

In September 2021 Fionn Ferreira was awarded a Premio Internationale Giuseppe Sciacca award for his conservation and ecological efforts.