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Superhydrophobic nanocarbon-based membrane with antibacterial characteristics |
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| Authors: | Mustafa M Aljumaily Mohammed A Alsaadi Nur Awanis Binti Hashim Farouq S Mjalli Qusay F Alsalhy Abdul L Khan Ahmed Al-Harrasi |
| Institution: | 1. Biotechnology and Environmental Center, University of Fallujah, Anbar, Iraq;2. National Chair of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman;3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;4. Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman;5. Membrane Technology Research Unit, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq;6. Natural and Medical Sciences Research Center, University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman |
| Abstract: | To overcome the biofouling challenge which faces membrane water treatment processed, the novel superhydrophobic carbon nanomaterials impregnated on/powder activated carbon (CNMs/PAC) was utilized to successfully design prepare an antimicrobial membrane. The research was conducted following a systematic statistical design of experiments technique considering various parameters of composite membrane fabrication. The impact of these parameters of composite membrane on Staphylococcus aureus growth was investigated. The bacteria growth was analyzed through spectrophotometer and SEM. The effect of CNMs' hydrophobicity on the bacterial colonies revealed a decrease in the abundance of bacterial colonies and an alteration in structure with increasing the hydrophobicity. The results revealed that the optimum preparative conditions for carbon loading CNMs/PAC was 363.04 mg with a polymer concentration of 22.64 g/100 g, and a casting knife thickness of 133.91 μm. These conditions have resulted in decreasing the number of bacteria colonies to about 7.56 CFU. Our results provided a strong evidence on the antibacterial effect and consequently on the antibiofouling potential of CNMs/PAC in membrane. |
| Keywords: | anti-biofouling membrane distillation optimization surface modification |