Ozonation, biofiltration and the role of membrane surface charge and hydrophobicity in removal and destruction of algal toxins at basic pH values

Joyner Eke, Priyesh Wagh, Isabel C. Escobar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study was directed at the investigation of technologies for treatment of water containing algal toxins at basic pH values. Ozonation, biofiltration and membrane filtration were examined for the removal of algal toxins, specifically microcystin-LR (MC-LR). Results indicate that, as expected, ozonation completely destroyed MC-LR in water, while biofiltration using naturally-occurring bacteria did not show a significant reduction in MC-LR concentration after eight days of contact time. More compelling were the membrane filtration results, which showed that water-affinity interactions were not the only governing factor influencing the removal of MC-LR by membranes. It was found that charge interactions between membranes and MC-LR played an important role in the rejection. MC-LR was completely removed from the feed water only by hydrophobic neutrally and positively charged membranes. Furthermore, due to charge interactions, MC-LR reversibly adsorbed to neutral hydrophobic membranes, but it irreversibly adsorbed to positive hydrophobic membranes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)56-63
Number of pages8
JournalSeparation and Purification Technology
Volume194
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 3 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative grant from the Ohio Department of Higher Education , and partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. 1355438 and by the NSF KY EPSCoR Program. In addition, the authors acknowledge Center of Membrane Sciences and PBI Performance Products Inc.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • Charge
  • Hydrophobicity
  • Microcystin-LR
  • Nanofiltration
  • Ozonation
  • Ultrafiltration

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Filtration and Separation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Ozonation, biofiltration and the role of membrane surface charge and hydrophobicity in removal and destruction of algal toxins at basic pH values'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this