Researchers from Ben-Gurion University’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have created a membrane that removes viruses from treated wastewater and makes it safe for drinking.
What is more, the new ultrafiltration method does not rely on chlorine, the commonly used chemical to purify water, which can cause contamination. The researchers’ work was published in a recent issue of Water Research.
A number of waterborne viruses, such as norovirus and adenovirus, cause severe health problems every year. Norovirus is a common cause of viral gastroenteritis, which can cause diarrhea, nausea and other symptoms. Adenovirus is responsible for serious health issues like pneumonia and neurological disease.
The American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) notes that the researchers have developed the “zwitterionic polymer hydrogel” coating to make these ultrafiltration membranes the perfect tool to remove these viruses and more from drinking water.
The hydrogel coating enhances the efficiency of the membranes by having both a positive and a negative charge. This process helps to lower the virus accumulation on the newly designed filter surface.
Increasing levels of pollution make for an uncertain water future, but the modified membranes can play a promising role in producing clean drinking water resources.
“Utilizing a simple graft-polymerization of commercialized membranes to make virus removal more comprehensive is a promising development for controlling filtration of pathogens in potable water reuse,” says Prof. Nguyen, Department of Chemical Engineering, UIUC.
— Read more in Ruiqing Lu et al., “Improvement of virus removal using ultrafiltration membranes modified with grafted zwitterionic polymer hydrogels,” Water Research 116 (1 June 2017): 86-94 (DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.03.023)
