APPLICATION OF THE ELECTROSPUN NANOFIBERS IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Water shortage and water environmental pollution have promoted the development of wastewater reclamation and reuse in recent years. Outlets, originating from domestic wastewater treatment plants, can be a promising option for water reuse strategies. However, successful application of water reuse technologies requires pathogen removal. We tested electrospun nanofibres for pathogen removal from three wastewater treatment plant outlets. Our tests were performed in a flow through system in which samples (100 mL) were filtered over nanofibre membrane (38 mm diameter) with a pressure filter (1 bar) in a dead-end filtration cell, placed on a filter support. The filtration apparatus is made from stainless steel and autoclaved before measurement. Polyurethane electrospun nanofibres were applied on viscose base non-woven. Average diameter of nanofibres was 147 nm and layer thickness was determined 2.5 g/m(2). Base non-woven was bottomed by highly porous stainless steel mesh. Water samples were collected from three municipal wastewater treatment plant outlets and diluted as needed. Samples were analysed for pathogens mentioned in Czech legislation (culturable microorganisms at 37 degrees C and 22 degrees C, intestinal enterococci, Escherichia coli and thermotolerant coliform bacteria). Our results showed significant removal of microbiological contamination by nanofibres from all samples. The results were compared with Czech national standards and government directions. Filtered WWTP outlet samples (A and B) fulfilled parameters of GR 61/2003 31 - water-supply purposes, 34 - swimming purposes, and fits for environmental quality standards (EQS-DA). WWTP A filtered outlet is appropriate for unrestricted irrigation. However, filtered sample from WWTP B (8000 PE) enables restricted irrigation according Czech standard 757143 only. Grabbed sample from WWTP C (150 PE) did not fulfill any national and directions for possible water reuse scenario.