Abstract
Water is a basic necessity critical to the survival of all living beings. However, many people around the world do not have consistent access to uncontaminated drinking water. Traditional water treatment methods, such as filtration and disinfection, require physical or chemical disinfectants and are prone to fouling. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) enables a system whereby polarized bioparticles exhibit lateral movement under the influence of applied, non-uniform electric fields. A single-stage, continuous flow, millimeter-sized DEP device was designed and fabricated to remove Escherichia coli K12 from contaminated tap water. Glass beads were used to alter the electric field distribution and create zones of high electric field to trap bacterial cells. The effect of varied voltages, flow rates and bead sizes on the removal efficiency was studied. The highest removal efficiency of E. coli K12 was 99.9%, with the device set at 60 V, a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and a 200 µm bead size. Higher applied voltages, slower flow rates, and smaller bead sizes led to an increased reduction in bacteria. An optimized macro-scale system—with multiple stages of DEP—could be suitable for commercial use and would be an effective method of removing pathogens from polluted tap water.
Highlights
Clean drinking water is believed to be a fundamental human right and a critical necessity for maintaining the health and sustainability of all life on Earth [1]
This study presents the design and evaluation of an electrostatic insulator-based DEP (iDEP) filter used to remove E. coli K12 from contaminated tap water
The glass bead size and flow rate were kept constant for all experiments at 200 μm and
Summary
Clean drinking water is believed to be a fundamental human right and a critical necessity for maintaining the health and sustainability of all life on Earth [1]. According to the 2017 estimate by the World Health Organization and UNICEF [2], 844 million people worldwide are water insecure and do not have access to even a basic drinking water supply. Grey and Sadoff [3] define water security as the accessibility of acceptable quality and quantity of water required for physical, ecological and economic sustainability coupled with the assurance of adequate levels of safety when considering potential water-related risks and impacts. Proper water treatment technology development and maintenance are key in reducing waterborne illnesses, decreasing poverty, encouraging economic growth and improving water security in developing countries [6]
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