Antimicrobial activity of X zeolite exchanged with Cu2+ and Zn2+ on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus

• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-3750-z
• Publication Date: 2018-11-27T22:23:38Z
• Authors: Guangyuan Yao; Jingjing Lei; Wanzhong Zhang; Caihong Yu; Zhiming Sun; Shuilin Zheng; Sridhar Komarneni
• Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; Microbial Viability; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Surface Properties; 02 engineering and technology; 01 natural sciences; Zinc Sulfate; 6. Clean water; Anti-Bacterial Agents; 3. Good health; Disinfection; Ion Exchange; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; Escherichia coli; Zeolites; 0210 nano-technology; Copper; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The biocidal cations of Cu2+ and Zn2+ were hosted on the surfaces and in the cavities of X zeolite via ion exchange. The microstructure and interface properties of the exchanged zeolite X samples were analyzed by XRD, SEM, XPS, and XRF. The as-prepared samples showed excellent antimicrobial activity towards gram-negative bacteria of Escherichia coli and gram-positive bacteria of Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, the batch antimicrobial experiments showed that the bacterial disinfection process fitted well with the first order model. The Cu2+-zeolite showed excellent and better antibacterial performance on S. aureus than on E. coli, and the mortalities of E. coli and S. aureus were almost 100% after 1 h with the initial Cu2+-zeolite concentrations of 1000 ppm and 100 ppm, respectively. However, the Zn2+-zeolites were found to be less effective on S. aureus than on E. coli, and the mortalities of E. coli and S. aureus were almost 100% after 1 h with the initial Zn2+-zeolite concentrations of 500 ppm and 1000 ppm, respectively. In addition, the relationships between the apparent rate constant (k) and reagent concentration (C) were also systematically investigated. The present results suggest that the as-prepared samples could be promising antibacterial materials for the efficient disinfection of contaminated water with bacteria.