Membrane biofouling and virus passage are two significant challenges for the application of low-pressure membranes in water purification.  Biofouling inevitably happens in all membrane processes, which greatly deteriorates membrane performance, such as reducing membrane permeability, decreasing membrane lifetime, and increasing maintenance cost.  Theoretically, ultrafiltration and microfiltration membranes are not effective barriers for viruses.  The permeation of viruses through these membranes mandates that they be coupled with relatively high disinfectant does downstream of the process.  Therefore, there is a critical need for a new generation of low-pressure membranes with improved biofouling resistance and virus inactivation.  In this study, we facilitate strong antimicrobial and virus inactivation properties to polyethersulfone (PES) membranes by functionalizing the membrane surface with grapheme oxide (GO) nanosects.  The resulting membrane will be characterized to confirm the success of functionalization and to further evaluate membrane transport properties after GO functionalization.  Biofouling experiments will be carried out with feed solutions containing a variety of biological foulants, including Escherichia coli K12, Pseudomonas, and the MS2 bacteriophage in a cross-flow filtration system.  Short-term bacteria/virus inactivation and long---term biofilm growth inhibition of the modified membranes will be evaluated and compared to commercial membranes.

Membranes functionalized with graphene oxide nanosheets to impart antibiofouling and antiviral properties

248th National Meeting (2014)

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