Non-microbial indicators for monitoring virus removal by ultrafiltration membranes

Abstract The integrity of 0.04 µm polyvinylidene fluoride hollow fibre ultrafiltration (UF) membranes was assessed by challenge tests with citrate stabilised silver nanoparticles. Spherical, zerovalent, nanosilver particles maintained a net negative surface charge (−25±4 mV) and narrow size distribution (60±10 nm) in aqueous suspension for 72 h. Nanoparticle challenge testing of intact UF hollow fibre membranes demonstrated rejection efficiency as high as 2.9 log removal value (LRV), without affecting the hydraulic performance of the membranes. Challenge testing of deliberately compromised membranes through a sequence of breaches indicated that the nanoparticles can detect a loss of integrity in the filtration area of 3×10−5%, equivalent to 3 damaged fibres in 100,000 fibres. The LRV decreased from 2.8 to 1.3 with one pin hole of 100 μm thickness. Membranes were exposed to hypochlorite in order to mimic membrane ageing; exposure to 2500 and 5000 mg L−1 h of hypochlorite decreased the rejection efficiency of the particles by 0.2% and 0.9% with a corresponding loss in the intrinsic membrane resistance of 19% and 38%, respectively. Deliberate membrane compromise through chemical exposure was useful for generating membrane degradation that represented the initial stages of membrane failure due to routine chemical exposure. Considering the practical limitations of incorporating challenge testing with MS2 bacteriophage in full scale plants, silver nanoparticles have the potential to be an alternative indicator for challenging UF membranes for validation purposes.

[1]  Mehmet Kitis,et al.  Microbial removal and integrity monitoring of ro and NF Membranes , 2003 .

[2]  P. Kamat,et al.  What Factors Control the Size and Shape of Silver Nanoparticles in the Citrate Ion Reduction Method , 2004 .

[3]  Guohua Chen Electrochemical technologies in wastewater treatment , 2004 .

[4]  J. Duval,et al.  Efficiency of MS2 phage and Qβ phage removal by membrane filtration in water treatment: Applicability of real-time RT-PCR method , 2009 .

[5]  S. Hassanizadeh,et al.  Removal of Viruses by Soil Passage: Overview of Modeling, Processes, and Parameters , 2000 .

[6]  M. Kitis,et al.  Evaluation of biologic and non-biologic methods for assessing virus removal by and integrity of high pressure membrane systems , 2003 .

[7]  Pierre Le-Clech,et al.  Relative impact of fouling and cleaning on PVDF membrane hydraulic performances , 2012 .

[8]  Elizabeth Arkhangelsky,et al.  Effect of transmembrane pressure on rejection of viruses by ultrafiltration membranes , 2008 .

[9]  F. Gaboriaud,et al.  Effects of pH on plaque forming unit counts and aggregation of MS2 bacteriophage , 2007, Journal of applied microbiology.

[10]  Nandakishore Rajagopalan,et al.  Use of paramagnetic particles in membrane integrity testing , 2008 .

[11]  M. R. Templeton,et al.  Particle-Associated Viruses in Water: Impacts on Disinfection Processes , 2008 .

[12]  Pierre Le-Clech,et al.  Cleaning and ageing effect of sodium hypochlorite on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane , 2010 .

[13]  Nikolay Voutchkov,et al.  SWRO pre-treatment systems: Choosing between conventional and membrane filtration , 2009 .

[14]  Yufeng Cui,et al.  Recovery of silver from wastewater coupled with power generation using a microbial fuel cell. , 2012, Bioresource technology.

[15]  R. Kaner,et al.  Pore-structure, hydrophilicity, and particle filtration characteristics of polyaniline–polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes , 2010 .

[16]  J. Hillier,et al.  A study of the nucleation and growth processes in the synthesis of colloidal gold , 1951 .

[17]  I. V. Carranzo,et al.  APHA, AWWA, WEF. "Standard Methods for examination of water and wastewater." , 2012 .

[18]  A. Genaidy,et al.  An evidence-based environmental perspective of manufactured silver nanoparticle in syntheses and applications: a systematic review and critical appraisal of peer-reviewed scientific papers. , 2010, The Science of the total environment.

[19]  I. Sosa,et al.  Optical Properties of Metal Nanoparticles with Arbitrary Shapes , 2003, cond-mat/0304216.

[20]  A. E. Greenberg,et al.  Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater : supplement to the sixteenth edition , 1988 .

[21]  Kazuo Yamamoto,et al.  Effect of pore structure of membranes and module configuration on virus retention , 1996 .

[22]  Robert M. Clark,et al.  Application of nanoscale probes for the evaluation of the integrity of ultrafiltration membranes , 2006 .

[23]  Greg Leslie,et al.  Removal Efficiency and Integrity Monitoring Techniques for Virus Removal by Membrane Processes , 2012 .

[24]  James S. Taylor,et al.  Micro-Organism Rejection by Membrane Systems , 2002 .

[25]  Andrea I. Schäfer,et al.  Role of hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions for initial enteric virus retention by MF membranes , 2010 .

[26]  S. Ohgaki,et al.  Effect of pore size distribution of ultrafiltration membranes on virus rejection in crossflow conditions , 1994 .

[27]  Avner Adin,et al.  Fluorescent dye labeled bacteriophages--a new tracer for the investigation of viral transport in porous media: 1. Introduction and characterization. , 2002, Water research.

[28]  Marisa Masumi Beppu,et al.  Natural-based plasticizers and biopolymer films: A review , 2011 .

[29]  David R. Smith,et al.  Shape effects in plasmon resonance of individual colloidal silver nanoparticles , 2002 .

[30]  R. Trussell,et al.  Rejection of MS‐2 virus by RO membranes , 1998 .

[31]  Philippe Moulin,et al.  Application of magnetic nanoparticles for UF membrane integrity monitoring at low-pressure operation , 2010 .

[32]  Qi Zhou,et al.  Effect of hypochlorite cleaning on the physiochemical characteristics of polyvinylidene fluoride membranes , 2010 .

[33]  Robert M. Clark,et al.  Nanoscale probes for the evaluation of the integrity of ultrafiltration membranes , 2006 .

[34]  A. Brenner,et al.  New and conventional pore size tests in virus-removing membranes. , 2012, Water research.

[35]  J. King,et al.  Pressure denaturation of the bacteriophage P22 coat protein and its entropic stabilization in icosahedral shells. , 1994, Biophysical journal.

[36]  S L Ong,et al.  Removal of MS2 bacteriophage using membrane technologies. , 2003, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[37]  Pierre Le-Clech,et al.  Production and characterisation of UF membranes by chemical conversion of used RO membranes , 2013 .

[38]  J. Malina,et al.  Virus rejection by the reverse osmosis-ultrafiltration processes , 1972 .