Investigation of virus attenuation mechanisms in a fluvioglacial sand using column experiments

Virus inactivation and virus adsorption, resulting from interactions with minerals, constitute important aspects of an aquifers disinfection capacity. Investigations using a 20 cm column filled with medium-grained natural sands demonstrated that the sands can attenuate up to 62% of a pulse of viruse...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:FEMS microbiology ecology 2004-07, Vol.49 (1), p.83-95
Main Authors: Flynn, Raymond M, Rossi, Pierre, Hunkeler, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Aquifers
Attenuation
Bacteriophage
Bacteriophages
Biological and medical sciences
Clay minerals
Coatings
Deactivation
Disinfection
Ecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Groundwater
Inactivation
Microbiology
Minerals
Miscellaneous
Sand
Silicon Dioxide - chemistry
Surface chemistry
Virology
Virus Inactivation
Viruses
Water Microbiology
Water Purification - methods
X-ray diffraction
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Virus inactivation and virus adsorption, resulting from interactions with minerals, constitute important aspects of an aquifers disinfection capacity. Investigations using a 20 cm column filled with medium-grained natural sands demonstrated that the sands can attenuate up to 62% of a pulse of viruses injected. Experiments using repeatedly washed sands had significantly lower attenuation capacity than fresh sands, due to removal of fine-grained (silt and clay-sized) coatings on grain surfaces. X-ray diffraction analyses of the sand, and the associated fine-grained coating indicated that no significant mineralogical differences existed between these two materials. The experimental data suggested that rougher surfaces/crystal edges in the grain coatings reduced repulsive forces between viruses and the sands permitting greater virus adsorption to the column matrix. Soaking all sands with Tryptone solution after testing released adsorbed viruses indicated that short-term viral inactivation due to interactions with the column matrix was a negligible part of the attenuation process.
ISSN:0168-6496
1574-6941
DOI:10.1016/j.femsec.2003.08.017