Separation of Salmonella Typhimurium Bacteria from Water Using MWCNTs Arrays

In this study, Salmonella Typhimurium bacteria removal from polluted water has been investigated using multiwall carbon nanotubes arrays. Experimental results reveal that the contact time, the bacterial concentration and the weight of multiwall carbon nanotubes arrays have positive significant effects on the bacteria removal efficiency. Increasing the contact time and the weight of multiwall carbon nanotubes arrays enhances the removal efficiency which can be the result of the aggregation increase between bacteria cells and carbon nanotubes. Scanning electron microscopy images demonstrate that the multiwall carbon nanotubes arrays capture the bacteria cells by the sieve mechanism without any specific effect on the bacteria cell morphology. Furthermore, the impact of the compressing and crushing of carbon nanotubes arrays on the bacteria cell removal efficiency were studied. Results show that crushing process enhances the bacteria removal efficiency and also increases the loss of carbon nanotube arrays by transportation with water. However, compressing process does not have any significant effect on the bacteria removal efficiency in comparison to the primary samples, and also decreases the loss of carbon nanotubes. These observations suggest that compressed carbon nanotubes arrays can be an appropriate choice for separation of salmonella bacteria from polluted water.