Bacterial immobilization on cellulose acetate based nanofibers for methylene blue removal from wastewater: Mini-review

Abstract

Cellulose acetate (CA) has been reported as versatile substance that has wide applications ranging from diapers to membrane filters. In addition to that, cellulose acetate has many characteristics which make it unique and excellent polymer for electrospinning and nanofibers preparations. The most important of them is that cellulose acetate is biodegradable polymer which will not cause waste accumulation problem in the environment after usage and disposal, it also cost-effective polymer which is suitable for industrial applications, as well as it has high affinity and adhesion properties in nanofibers morphology which strongly fit in the immobilization of biomaterials by adhesion forces. In this review, the bacterial immobilization methods and possible applications in the removal of methylene blue dye from wastewaters were summarized. Besides, cellulose acetate nanofibers’ capability in the immobilization of bacterial cells and their applications in decolorization and removal of methylene blue dye from industrial wastewater will be explained here. As known, bacteria can be used in industry for pollutants removal from industrial wastewaters, and this process is called bioremediation. However, free bacterial usage still not effectively applied in the industry because bacteria can make reproduction and multiply by larger numbers and this may cause another source of pollution in water. Herein, immobilization of bacteria is good manner to facilitate the handling of bacteria and harvesting during and after application in wastewater. Furthermore, it increases their efficiency by increasing the overall exposure surface area. Immobilization of bacteria will enrich their usage and applications in the removal of pollutants from industrial wastewaters in the future.