Investigation of antifouling and disinfection potential of chitosan coated iron oxide-PAN hollow fiber membrane using Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Chitosan coated iron oxide nanoparticles were impregnated into polyacrylonitrile based hollow fiber membrane. The molecular weight cut off was varied in the range of 120 to 145kDa with the concentration of nanoparticles. Incorporation of nanoparticles improved the permeability, mechanical property and hydrophilicity of the membrane. The contact angle of the membrane decreased from 80° to 51° and the permeability increased by 31% at 0.5wt% nanoparticles concentration. The antibacterial and antifouling property of the membrane were investigated with two biofilm causing Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The damage of cell membrane was directly confirmed by release of cellular constituent absorbing in 260nm. The cellular deformation on the membrane surface was evident by direct microscopic observation in FESEM. This damage was likely caused by electrostatic interaction between NH3+ group of nanoparticles and anionic components of phosphoryl group of bacteria. The hollow fiber membrane shows promising antibiofouling property even after long experimental run as evident by 95% flux recovery ratio. The effect of operating conditions on rejection and flux profile was investigated during long experimental run. The result indicated that there was no detectable iron in the permeate sample that could impose adverse health hazard.