Improvement of virus removal using ultrafiltration membranes modified with grafted zwitterionic polymer hydrogels. (1st June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lu, Ruiqing; Zhang, Chang; Piatkovsky, Maria; Ulbricht, Mathias; Herzberg, Moshe; Nguyen, Thanh H.
• Is Part Of: Water research. Volume 116(2017)
• Page Start: 86
• Page End: 94
• Publication Date: 2017-06-01
• Subjects: Graft-polymerization -- Zwitterionic -- Repulsion force -- Virus removal; Water -- Pollution -- Research -- Periodicals; 363.7394
• DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.03.023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0043-1354

Abstract

Abstract: Potable water reuse has been adopted by cities suffering water scarcity in recent years. The microbial safety in water reuse, especially with respect to pathogenic viruses, is still a concern for water consumers. Membrane filtration can achieve sufficient removal of pathogenic viruses without disinfection byproducts, but the required energy is intensive. In this study, we graft-polymerized zwitterionic SPP ([3-(methacryloylamino) propyl] dimethyl (3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide) on a 150 kDa ultrafiltration polyethersulfone membrane to achieve a significantly higher virus removal. The redox-initiated graft-polymerization was performed in an aqueous solution during filtration of the monomer and initiators, allowing for functionalizing the membrane pores with hydrophilic polySPP. Bacteriophage MS2 and human adenovirus type 2 (HAdV-2) were used as surrogates for pathogenic human norovirus and human adenovirus. The grafting resulted in ∼18% loss of the membrane permeability but an increase of 4 log10 in HAdV-2 removal and 3 log10 in MS2 removal. The pristine and the grafted membranes were both conditioned with soluble microbial products (SMP) extracted from a full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) in order to test the virus removal after fouling the membranes. After fouling, the HAdV-2 removal by the grafted membrane was 1 log10 higher than that of the pristine membrane. For MS2, the grafted membrane after fouling with SMP achieved an additional 5 log10 removal compared to the unmodified membrane. The simple graft-polymerization functionalization of commercialized membrane achieving enhanced virus removal efficiency highlights the promise of membrane filtration for pathogen control in potable water reuse. Graphical abstract: Highlights: Zwitterionic coating exerted repulsion forces towards incoming particles. The modified membrane achieved higher virus removals for both MS2 and HAdV-2. The adsorptions of SMP and viruses onto the modified membrane were reversible.