Influence of zeta potential on the flocculation of cyanobacteria cells using chitosan modified soil

Abstract

Using chitosan modified soil to flocculate and sediment algal cells has been considered as a promising strategy to combat cyanobacteria blooms in natural waters. However, the flocculation efficiency often varies with algal cells with different zeta potential (ZP) attributed to different growth phases or water conditions. This article investigated the relationship between ZP of Microcystis aeruginosa and its influence to the flocculation efficiency using chitosan modified soil. Results suggested that the optimal removal efficiency was obtained when the ZP was between − 20.7 and − 6.7 mV with a removal efficiency of more than 80% in 30 min and large floc size of > 350 μm. When the algal cells were more negatively charged than − 20.7 mV, the effect of chitosan modified soil was depressed (< 60%) due to the insufficient charge density of chitosan to neutralize and destabilize the algal suspension. When the algal cells were less negative than − 6.7 mV or even positively charged, a small floc size (< 120 μm) was formed, which may be difficult to sink under natural water conditions. Therefore, manipulation of ZP provided a viable tool to improve the flocculation efficiency of chitosan modified soil and an important guidance for practical engineering of cyanobacteria bloom control.

Removal of Cu(II) and tetracycline using an aromatic rings-functionalized chitosan-based flocculant: Enhanced interaction between the flocculant and the antibiotic

“…Chitosan [17], a commercially available product of edible food additives, is the deacetylated product of chitin and known to be a biodegradable and non-toxic natural polymer [18,19]. Previous studies [20,21] have reported that chitosan and chitosan modified derivatives could be widely used in water treatment.…”

Cyanobacterial bloom mitigation using proteins with high isoelectric point and chitosan-modified soil

“…This was because chitosan is a weaker surface charge modifier (Huang and Chen 1996), which was not sufficient to destabilize the highly negatively charged and stable algal cells. A recent study has found that the optimal flocculation efficiency using chitosan-modified soil was obtained when the zeta potential of algal cells was reduced to −6.7 mV (Li et al 2015). Therefore, the first step of charge neutralization not only created an optimized condition for chitosan to increase the floc size by netting and bridging function (Fig.…”

Physicochemical techniques in description of interactions in model and native plant membranes under stressful conditions and in physiological processes

“…The composition of the main lipid fractions in plasmalemma chloroplast and microsomal membranes of various plants in ( 3.4-54.3 1.0-28.0 Allen et al 1964;Galliard 1968;Roughan and Batt 1969;Wintermans 1960;Harwood 1975Harwood , 1980Sheppard et al 1978;Evans et al 1990;Palta et al 1993;Quartacci et al 1995Quartacci et al , 2001Uemura et al 1995;Hernandez and Cooke 1997;Gniazdowska et al 1999;Welti et al 2002;Nouairi et al 2006;Salama et al 2007;Toumi et al 2008;Filek et al 2009;Zamani et al 2010;Cacho et al 2012;Ibrahim et al 2012;Li et al 2014;Sui and Han 2014 Chloroplast 6.7-32.0…”