I-Corps: Water filtration systems that integrate organic antibacterial membranes

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of membranes with carbon nanoparticles to treat water for the removal of bacteria, converting it into drinking water. Well over two billion people live without adequate water sanitation, posing a major threat to human health. Diarrheal disease, which is mainly caused by poor sanitation and contaminated water, is a leading cause of death in children under five years old and vulnerable populations around the world.

The common method used to ensure pathogen-free drinking water is chlorine disinfection. Chlorine is a toxic chemical, is highly corrosive and has a negative impact on human health. One way to address water disinfection is membrane filtration.

This project explores translation of novel membranes to treat water, focusing on the removal of bacteria. The proposed membranes are a modification of commercial membranes to make them more efficient, resistant and with greater durability than those available in the market.

This I-Corps project advances translation of novel membranes based on carbon nanoparticles (UDD), which can significantly reduce fecal Col/cm3 concentration in polluted water. A death rate between 94%-97% was observed in UDD-treated water plates depending on UDD concentration. One-way Anova analyses of untreated and UDD treated samples showed a significant bacteria reduction depending on UDD concentration with a 95% confidence interval.

Moreover, when UDD was incorporated to commercially available water filtration membranes, results showed a significant difference in fecal bacteria concentration between commercial and modified membranes when T-test analysis were performed thereby enhancing its bactericidal properties. This research paves the way for the use of UDD as a new disinfection material for water treatment.

The improvement of the mechanical and bacteriological properties of the membranes used for reverse osmosis potentially lowers maintenance costs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.