Adsorption kinetics of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus on single-walled carbon nanotube aggregates

• Published in: Water science and technology Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 179 - 184
• Main Authors: Upadhyayula, Venkata K.K, Deng, Shuguang, Mitchell, Martha C, Smith, Geoffrey B, Nair, Vinod K, Ghoshroy, Soumitra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IWA Publishing 01.01.2008
• Subjects: Adsorption; Aggregates; Bacteria; biosensors; Bioterrorism - prevention & control; Carbon; Colony Count, Microbial - methods; Diffusion; Diffusivity; E coli; Electron microscopy; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli - ultrastructure; Kinetics; microbial contamination; Microorganisms; Microscopy, Electron; nanotechnology; Nanotubes; Nanotubes, Carbon; Pretreatment; Pretreatment of water; Sewage - microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; transmission electron microscopy; Wastewater treatment; Water Microbiology; Water purification; water treatment
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2008.634

Batch adsorption studies to determine adsorption kinetics of Escherichia coli (E.coli) K12 and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) SH 1000 bacterial cells on single-walled carbon nanotube aggregates were performed at two different initial concentrations. The diffusivity of E. coli cells in single-walled carbon nanotube aggregates obtained was 6.54 x 10(-9) and 8.98 x 10(-9) cm(2)/s, whereas that of S. aureus was between 1.00 x 10(-7) and 1.66 x 10(-7) cm(2)/s respectively. In addition to batch adsorption studies, electron microscopy studies were also conducted. The results suggest that diffusion kinetics of bacterial cells is concentration dependent as well as bacteria dependent. Diffusivity of S. aureus is two orders of magnitude greater than E. coli cells. This proves to be beneficial from an adsorption perspective where it is desired to filter microorganisms (water pretreatment and wastewater post treatment) and from nanotube biosensor perspective where it is desired to simultaneously capture and detect biothreat agents in a shorter span of time.