Bacterial attachment on reactive ceramic ultrafiltration membranes

Shannon Ciston, Richard M. Lueptow, Kimberly A. Gray*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

73 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bacterial attachment is an initial stage in biofilm formation that leads to flux decline in membrane water filtration. This study compares bacterial attachment among three photocatalytic ceramic ultrafiltration membranes for the prevention of biofilm formation. Zirconia ceramic ultrafiltration membranes were dip-coated with anatase and mixed phase titanium dioxide photocatalysts to prevent biofilm growth. The membrane surface was characterized in terms of roughness, hydrophobicity, bacterial cell adhesion, and attached cell viability, all of which are important factors in biofilm formation. The titanium dioxide coatings had minimal impact on the membrane roughness, reduced the hydrophobicity of membranes, prevented Pseudomonas putida attachment, and reduced P. putida viability. Degussa P25 is a particularly promising reactive coating because of its ease of preparation, diminished cell attachment and viability in solutions with low and high organic carbon concentrations, and reduced flux decline. These reactive membranes offer a promising strategy for fouling resistance in water filtration systems.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)101-107
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Membrane Science
Volume320
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 15 2008

Funding

This study was based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0403581. Thanks to Evonik Degussa for their generous donation of P25. The XRD work was performed in the J.B. Cohen X-ray Diffraction Facility at Northwestern University. The AFM work was performed in the NIFTI facility of NUANCE Center at Northwestern University. NUANCE Center is supported by NSF-NSEC, NSF-MRSEC, Keck Foundation, the State of Illinois, and Northwestern University. The confocal microscopy work was performed in the Biological Imaging Facility on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. Thanks to Martina Hausner, William Russin, Jerry Carsello, Gonghu Li, Yuan Yao, Jessica Kunke, Andrew Reiter, and Virginia Palmer for assistance with experimental work.

Keywords

  • Biofilm
  • Biofouling
  • Photocatalysis
  • Titanium dioxide
  • Ultrafiltration

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Filtration and Separation

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