Feasibility study of E.coli inactivation and development of portable water purifier using platinized titanium

Abstract

Water contaminated by pathogens poses the greatest threat to public health globally. Throughout the decades, there have been numerous technologies developed for the purification of water and electro-disinfection has emerged as a promising alternative treatment method. The efficacy of electro-disinfection has been extensively studied with investigations conducted on parameters such as electrode material and electrolyte. Non-portable water purifiers employing electro-disinfection have also been developed for commercial purposes. In this work, platinized titanium as electrodes were investigated for their capability to inactivate E. coli in different electrolyte media. Based on this investigation, the feasibility of developing a portable water purifier using platinized titanium was subsequently studied. Platinized titanium electrodes were found to be capable of inactivating E. coli in different electrolyte solutions with the inactivation trend of NaCl > Na2SO4 > NaNO3 obtained. The cathode was individually investigated and found to have a greater E. coli inactivation capability than the anode. Using platinized titanium as the electrodes, the development of a portable water purifier prototype was found to be feasible where 32% of E.coli was inactivated by 6 hour achieving a log(N/N0) of -5, although much higher inactivation from shorter times could be obtained using a bench top electrolytic system. Therefore, further optimizations on the prototype need to be performed to improve its disinfection capability.