Issue 6, 2020

Performance of silver nanoparticle-impregnated ovoid ceramic water filters

Abstract

A ceramic water filter (CWF) with curved (ovoid) walls has been developed by Potters without Borders, a nonprofit that provides technical assistance to CWF factories. Here, a modified version of the USEPA testing method was used to evaluate the performance of ovoid CWFs, which have yet to be studied in the literature. Filters with/without silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were evaluated for bacterial removal, turbidity removal, flow rate, and silver leaching. Log removal values (LRVs) for Escherichia coli for AgNP coated CWFs were 9.5–10.9 LRV while uncoated achieved 8.0–9.8 LRV. All the CWFs tested here had flow rates between 0.8 and 1.3 L h−1. The turbidity of the influent was reduced by the filters throughout the general and challenge water conditions with removal of 9.1–90.9% and 99.3–99.8%, respectively. Silver-coated CWFs had a higher total effluent silver concentration compared to uncoated (coated CWFs had 74% more total silver leaching on average) and had an increased silver release during the challenge phase (35 ppb) compared to the general phase (13 ppb). The exterior wall coated with AgNPs was shown to leach silver off the ceramic using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, providing evidence that supports the recommendation to coat only the interior wall of CWFs with AgNPs. The procedure demonstrated utility as a reproducible performance testing technique. X-ray diffraction and mercury intrusion porosimetry were used to study the ceramic structure.

Graphical abstract: Performance of silver nanoparticle-impregnated ovoid ceramic water filters

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Jan 2020
Accepted
25 Apr 2020
First published
30 Apr 2020

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020,7, 1772-1780

Author version available

Performance of silver nanoparticle-impregnated ovoid ceramic water filters

Z. J. Shepard, E. M. Lux and V. A. Oyanedel-Craver, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2020, 7, 1772 DOI: 10.1039/D0EN00115E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements