Polyurethane foams incorporated with different fillers to remove SARS-CoV-2 from water

Abstract

Recent studies on viral shedding of SARS-CoV-2 have been reporting that this virus is excreted by infected patients. Because of that, high viral loads have been founded in effluents and wastewater from certain locations, where in high numbers of COVID-19 cases were reported. The increase in SARS-CoV-2 virus dispersion in the environment may increase the risk of new infections, therefore removal or inactivation techniques should be encouraged to prevent the spread of this virus. This study evaluated polyurethane foams (PUF) filled with different particulate adsorbents for the removal of SARS-CoV-2 from water. For that, the PUF were characterized in terms of chemical composition, morphology, surface charge, crystallinity, thermal degradation, density and zeta potential. Afterward, the virus removal efficiency of the studied PUF was analyzed using ribonucleic acid (RNA) extraction and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). In this evaluation, the PUF were incubated in an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 viral suspension for 24 h. The results showed high percentages of SARS-CoV-2 removal above 98 % for the neat PU, as well as for the PUF filled with peach stone (PUPS), peach stone-based activated carbon (PUPSAC) and commercial activated carbon (PUCAC). These results indicate that the production of PUF-based adsorbents is a sustainable way for adding value to commercially discredited vegetable matrixes.