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Surface Functionalizations of Water Filters : a Moringa oleifera Sand Filter and Metal-Organic Nanofiltration Membranes

Author:
Uliana, Adam
Published:
[University Park, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania State University, 2017.
Physical Description:
1 electronic document
Additional Creators:
Velegol, Stephanie Butler and Schreyer Honors College
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Open Access.
Summary:
This thesis reports two novel technologies that use material surface functionalizations for improved water purification: Moringa oleifera-coated sand (f-sand) filters and nanofiltration membranes with metal-organic interfaces. Moringa oleifera seeds contain an antimicrobial, cationic protein that can adhere to sand. This cationic f-sand strongly adsorbs waterborne pathogens and is particularly advantageous for use in developing global regions. Tests on miniature f-sand columns reported here attained over 5 log-removal of pathogens and lasted in effectiveness at least 10 times longer than regular sand filters. In order to be scaled up to practical sizes, three different clean-bed filtration models were applied to model the f-sand filter based on biocolloid transport through the filter. Two additional strategies (two-step deposition and co-deposition) were also designed that use mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) to strongly immobilize copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) onto a porous polymeric membrane for chemical wastewater treatment. To confirm the optimization of membrane surface properties, a series of materials characterizations (e.g., water contact angle) was executed. The enhanced surface charge, hydrophilicity, and pore size promoted an outstanding salt permeation (82% Na2SO4, 98% NaCl), water permeability (18.2 LMH/bar), and textile dye rejection (600-800 Da, >99.0% rejection), respectively. Furthermore, the functionalized membranes displayed a distinct bactericidal activity with a reduction of 93.7% in the number of live Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. The nanofiltration membrane studies highlight fast, facile surface modification strategies to assemble multifunctional coatings onto membranes for chemical wastewater treatment.
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Dissertation Note:
B.S. Pennsylvania State University, 2017.
Technical Details:
The full text of the dissertation is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file ; Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view the file.
View MARC record | catkey: 20514093