Ion exchange membrane with antimicrobial effect

conference proceedings

English

The aim of work is to prepare ion exchange membrane with antimicrobial effect used in food industry for filtration of milk. The main problem is to eliminate bacteria from family Enterobacteriaceae such as E. coli or S. aureus from milk which degrade filtration process and lifetime of membrane by congesting and also contamination of milk can rapidly increase which is unacceptable for final consumers. In this study, antimicrobial effect of membrane will be achieved by utilizing silver nanoparticles prepared by various chemical techniques in colloidal state which brings a big advantage of tailoring properties of nanoparticles (size, shape, optical properties) during the preparation process. The second crucial task is to bind nanoparticles onto surface of polymeric ion exchange membrane. These bonds should be as strong as possible, thus covalent, to avoid contamination of milk by silver nanoparticles which brings another problem; toxicity of nanoparticles. As the mechanism of antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles is still not clearly known for most of the mammals so consequences of proceeding contamination cannot be predicted properly. Therefore, test of toxicity (MTT test) needs to be done before being applied for milk filtration. Another task is to study growth and adhesion of bacteria on surface polymeric membrane (polypropylene, polybutylene) under various conditions such as temperature or electric field for their effective degradation. In final step, the effectivity and electrochemical function of such modified membrane has to be tested.

polymer membrane, antimicrobial effect, silver nanoparticles, toxicity

POLIEVKOVÁ, E.; DRBOHLAVOVÁ, J.; HUBÁLEK, J.; KŘIVČÍK J.

23. 4. 2015

Masarykova univerzita

Brno

978-80-210-7825-3

CEITEC PhD retreat

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