Biological treatment of drinking water by chitosan based nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanotechnology is a promising interdisciplinary area that is likely to have wide ranging implications in all fields of science and technology. The rapid growth in nanotechnology has significant interest in the environmental application of nanomaterials. One of the latent applications of antimicrobial nanomaterials is their use in decentralized or point- of- use water treatment. The present study focuses on chitosan loaded nanoparticles and secondary metabolites (Streptomyces sp.) loaded chitosan nanoparticles which were synthesized by ionotrophic gelation method. The synthesized nanoparticles were proven by antimicrobial activity test. Then the nanoparticles were coated on 4 micron membrane by dipping method. A membrane filtration technique is used for the treatment of water to remove or kill the bacteria from drinking water sample. The characterization of synthesized nanoparticles was done by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The size of the chitosan loaded nanoparticles and secondary metabolites loaded chitosan nanoparticles were 164 and 177 nm, respectively and the zeta potential was highly stable and found to be 35 and 47 mV, respectively. The synthesized nanoparticles have a lot of surface areas contrasted to macro particles. They can be improved with a variety of reactor groups to raise their affinity to target compounds for removal of organic and inorganic pollutants from contaminated water. The quality of water is confirmed by membrane filtration method and multiple tube fermentation techniques.
 
Key words: Nanoparticles coated membrane, membrane filtration method, MPN techniques.