(76e) Adsorption of Microorganisms on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Other Porous Media

Waterborne outbreaks resulting from contamination of drinking water systems with biothreat pathogens are a cause of major public health concern in many countries today. State of the art technologies, which are primarily designed to treat sewage based contaminations, are not very effective against biothreat agents. Most of the biothreat agents are colorless, tasteless and odorless and are likely to be undetected by existing systems. Carbon nanotube technology has a great potential to make important advancement in water security and protection from biothreat agents. Carbon nanotubes can be used as adsorbent media for effective removal of multiple pathogens from contaminated water, they can also be used as potential biosensors for simultaneous concentration and detection of multiple pathogens in water.

In this research the results of batch adsorption studies of three different microorganisms on single-walled carbon nanotubes, activated carbon and NanoCeram? are presented and the feasibility of using carbon nanotubes for removal of microorganisms are reported. Batch adsorption experiments are conducted to determine adsorption kinetics and adsorption equilibrium of pure cultures of Bacillus subtilis (B.subtilis), Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) on SWCNT aggregates. Adsorption of mixed cultures of E.coli and S.aureus on single-walled carbon nanotube aggregates is also tested.