Silver nanoparticle removal from drinking water: flocculation/sedimentation or filtration?

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles are used in a wide variety of consumer products and are therefore rapidly becoming ubiquitous in the natural environment; they can be expected to be found in the natural waters used as drinking water supplies. This research investigated whether such particles could be expected to be removed in conventional water treatment plants such as flocculation and filtration. Both flocculation and granular media filtration experiments with citrate-capped silver nanoparticles were performed at different ionic strengths and in the presence and absence of natural organic matter. The results were generally consistent with theories of particle destabilization that have been developed for larger particles (greater than 1 μm), suggesting that silver nanoparticles are likely to be removed in conventional treatment processes.

Levan-Capped Silver Nanoparticles for Bactericidal Formulations: Release and Activity Modelling

“…Particles have negative charge because silver ions lose their charge because of the reduction reaction with polymer. This value is in accordance with others presented before (range from −20 to −25 mV) [23,24]. Figure 2a shows TEM image of AgLeNPs where their sphericity and their monodispersion are observed.…”

Separation of Nano‐scaled Particles by Flocculation

“…Various separation methods are available to separate nanoparticles from their suspensions, i.e., centrifugation 11, 12, filtration 11, 13–15, and precipitation 16–18 are the commonly used methods. Meanwhile, nanoparticles that possess intrinsic magnetic responsiveness also can be separated via magnetic field manipulation 19.…”

Bioremoval of PVP coated silver nanoparticles using Aspergillus niger: the role of exopolysaccharides

“…Unfortunately, the enormous development in nanomaterial fabrication and applications has prompted questions about their long-term accumulation in the environment and human surroundings (Radziun et al 2011, Kik et al 2020. Accidental release into soil and sewer systems were reported to affect the viability of soil micro ora and activated sludge bacteria which eventually affect their performance (Gomaa 2014), they can easily reach water and drinking facilities (Lawler et al 2013), result in acute toxicity and bioaccumulation of Ag-NPs aquatic organisms (Lacave et al 2017). Different toxicity studies were conducted to evaluate the extent of damage exerted by ENPs (Marimon-Bolívar et al 2019, Liu et al 2019.…”