Electrostatic interactions in virus removal by ultrafiltration membranes

Abstract

Ultrafiltration membranes are increasingly used in potabilization to remove viral particles. This removal iscontrolled by electrostatic repulsion, attachment and size exclusion. The effect of electrostatic interaction invirus filtration was investigated. Our work included characterization of bacteriophage PP7 and polyethersulfonemembrane with respect to size and surface charge; the removal of this bacteriophage at laboratory scale byultrafiltration membrane process and the mechanism and limitations were analyzed and discussed under DLVOand XDLVO theories. A partial removal of the bacteriophage was achieved; however, enhanced separation maybe achieved considering that the process is affected by the aqueous matrix. The presence of divalent cationsdiminished the effectiveness of the procedure as opposed to monovalent cations and species with amphotericbehavior such as bicarbonate. DLVO and XDLVO predicted the interactions studied between bacteriophage PP7and polyethersulfone membrane.