Removal characteristics and fluctuation of norovirus in a pilot-plant by an ultrafiltration membrane for the reclamation of treated sewage

Abstract

When ultrafiltration (UF) membrane processes that are able to effectively reduce viruses are installed in a waste water reclamation system, the security of sanitation safety for water-borne diseases is essential. It is important to understand the behaviour of enteric viruses such as Adenovirus, Rotavirus and Norovirus (NV), the detection rate of which is relatively high in sewage. This study focused on the UF membrane process for the reclaimed water treatment process, and investigated the removal performance in NV type GI and GII in the UF membrane process by performing coagulation and sedimentation as the pre-treatment process in a pilot-plant by considering the concentration fluctuation of the influent. The removal ratio of GI and GII by the UF membrane process alone was 3.3 ± 0.7 Log in GI and 3.6 ± 1.0 Log in GII, and no clear difference in the removal ratio by NV species type was observed. The removal ratio of NV GII was increased by about 0.6 Log on average (4.2 ± 1.1 Log) compared with the UF membrane process only when the coagulation and sedimentation process were conducted as pre-treatment. However, there was no significant difference in the removal of NV GI by conducting the coagulation and sedimentation process.

Recent advances in aqueous virus removal technologies

“…For instance, Microbiological ultrafiltration can eliminate Cryptosporidium and Escherichia coli effectively ( Ferrer et al, 2015 ). However, it has not the capability to remove Noroviruses ( Yasui et al, 2016 ), Adenoviruses ( Yin et al, 2015 ), Rotaviruses ( Qiu et al, 2015 ), and bacteriophages ( Ferrer et al, 2015 ) because of the pore sizes (pores are not small enough). Hybrid-ozone membrane filtration is the most well-known type of hybrid membrane which is a short-cut way to prime the requisites of efficient treatment ( Hakizimana et al, 2017 ; Mameda et al, 2017 ; Qin et al, 2018 ; Rosman et al, 2018 ).…”

Sources, fates and treatment strategies of typical viruses in urban sewage collection/treatment systems: A review

“…Specifically, UF membranes with a slightly negative charge benefit virus elimination more than those with a neutral charge [134] . It should be noted that the nominal pore size of UF membranes is not small enough to remove NoV [135] , AdV [135] , RoV [136] , and bacteriophages [137] , [138] . Hence, the reduction of viruses can be improved via the use of coagulation as a pretreatment for UF systems.…”

Exploring magnetic capture to improve the detection of human norovirus in strawberries

“…to isolate norovirus particles, such as magnetic capture (Chowdhury et al, 2020;Nasheri et al, 2020;Yao et al, 2009), polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation (Hida et al, 2018), and ultrafiltration (Yasui et al, 2016). Among various methods, magnetic capture has shown significant potential.…”