Journal
WATER RESEARCH
Volume 43, Issue 3, Pages 715-723Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2008.11.014
Keywords
Nanosilver; Water filtration membranes; Biofouling; Virus removal
Funding
- EPA-STAR [R832534]
- NSF-funded Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology
- EPA [909134, R832534] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
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Biofouling and virus penetration are two significant obstacles in water treatment membrane filtration. Biofouling reduces membrane permeability, increases energy costs, and decreases the lifetime of membranes. in order to effectively remove viruses, nano-filtration or reverse osmosis (both high energy filtration schemes) must be used. Thus, there is an urgent demand for low pressure membranes with anti-biofouling and antiviral properties. The antibacterial properties of silver are well known, and silver nanoparticles (nAg) are now incorporated into a wide variety of consumer products for microbial control. In this study, nAg incorporated into polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes (nAg-PSf) exhibited antimicrobial properties towards a variety of bacteria, including Escherichia coli K12 and Pseudomonas mendocina KR1, and the MS2 bacteriophage. Nanosilver incorporation also increased membrane hydrophilicity, reducing the potential for other types of membrane fouling. XPS analysis indicated a significant loss of silver from the membrane surface after a relatively short filtration period (0.4 L/cm(2)) even though ICP analysis of digested membrane material showed that 90% of the added silver remained in the membrane. This silver loss resulted in a significant loss of antibacterial and antiviral activity. Thus, successful fabrication of nAg-impregnated membranes needs to allow for the release of sufficient silver ions for microbial control while preventing a rapid depletion of silver. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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