Pilot-scale continuous bacterial filtration using nanofibrous filters

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the filtration of microbially contaminated water using nanofibrous filters in a continuous process at the pilot scale. For this purpose, media filters of polystyrene and polyacrylonitrile electrospun nanofibers were used. To functionalize the antimicrobial features of these media filters, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was added in different concentrations to the polymeric solutions. Nanofiber's morphology and its functional groups were characterized by utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively. SEM observations showed suitable electrospinning conditions which led to having nanofibers with 200 to 600 nm diameter with the proper distribution without any disorder and presence of CTAB as a salt, removed beads in polystyrene nanofibers. CTAB's existence also was noticeable in the FT-IR test. To perform filtration tests, a continuous pilot system with a capacity of 150 L/h was designed and built. The microbially contaminated water was prepared artificially and tested in the filtration pilot. The best filter efficiency showed 98.75 ± 1% bacterial removal by microbial test on before and after filtration sample. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of a continuous pilot-scale system for the treatment of water contaminated with bacteria.