Assessment of Ceramic Water Filters for the Removal of Bacterial, Chemical, and Viral Contaminants
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 7
Abstract
In this study, a comprehensive assessment of doped ceramic water filters (doping with hydroxyapatite and alumina) was conducted for potential application in household water treatment. The efficiency/reliability was assessed via statistical data analysis and normal distributions. It was found that the doped ceramic water filters had high porosity ( by volume) and a substantial flow rate (). The removal of bacterial contaminants [i.e., log reduction value (LRV)] was also found to be associated with the percentage of porosity. Hence, the doped filters were both efficient and reliable in removing bacterial contaminants (LRV of ). The removal of chemical/viral contaminants was related to the doping with hydroxyapatite and alumina. Due to kinetics, the removal of viral contaminants also depended on the flow rate of the doped ceramic water filters. This resulted in high efficiency in the removal of viral contaminants (LRV of ) and high reliability in the removal of chemical contaminants (LRV of ). The current results suggest that the doped filters are suitable materials for application in household water treatment.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (experimental results and statistical data analyses).
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Biology and Biotechnology, and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at WPI. The authors also acknowledge the RAPSODEE Research Center at Mines Albi, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 7 • July 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 23, 2019
Accepted: Feb 10, 2020
Published online: May 8, 2020
Published in print: Jul 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Oct 8, 2020
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