Removal of Waterborne Pathogen by Nanomaterial-Membrane Coupling System

Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the wastewater pathway into surface water: A review

With global number of cases 106 million and death toll surpassing 2.3 million as of mid-February 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic is certainly one of the major threats that humankind have faced in modern history. As the scientific community navigates through the overwhelming avalanche of information on the multiple health impacts caused by the pandemic, new reports start to emerge on significant ancillary effects associated with the treatment of the virus. Besides the evident health impacts, other emerging impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as water-related impacts, merits in-depth investigation. This includes strategies for the identification of these impacts and technologies to mitigate them, and to prevent further impacts not only in water ecosystems, but also in relation to human health. This paper has critically reviewed currently available knowledge on the most significant potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wastewater pathway into surface water, as well as technologies that may serve to counteract the major threats posed, key perspectives and challenges. Additionally, current knowledge gaps and potential directions for further research and development are identified. While the COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing and rapidly evolving situation, compiling current knowledge of potential links between wastewater and surface water pathways as related to environmental impacts and relevant associated technologies, as presented in this review, is a critical step to guide future research in this area.

Nano-scale applications in aquaculture: Opportunities for improved production and disease control

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food-production sector and is vital to food security, habitat restoration and endangered species conservation. One of the continued challenges to the industry is our ability to manage aquatic disease agents that can rapidly decimate operations and are a constant threat to sustainability. Such threats also evolve as microbes acquire resistance and/or new pathogens emerge. The advent of nanotechnology has transformed our approach to fisheries disease management with advances in water disinfection, food conversion, fish health and management systems. In this review, several nano-enabled technology successes will be discussed as they relate to the challenges associated with disease management in the aquaculture sector, with a particular focus on fishes. Future perspectives on how nanotechnology can offer functional approaches for improving disinfection and innovating at the practical space of early warning systems will be discussed. Finally, the importance of "safety by design" approaches to the development of novel commercial nano-enabled products will be emphasized.

Response of soil microbial communities to engineered nanomaterials in presence of maize (Zea mays L.) plants

With the intended application of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in agriculture, accurate assessment the effect of these ENMs on soil microbial communities is especially necessary. Here, maize plants were cultivated in soil amended by SiO₂, TiO₂, and Fe₃O₄ ENMs (100 mg kg^-1 soil) for four weeks. The impact of ENMs on bacterial community structure of the rhizosphere soil was investigated by using high-throughput sequencing. In addition, metabolites of maize rhizosphere soil were quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabolomics. We found that the disturbance of ENMs on soil microbes are in the follow of Fe₃O₄>TiO₂>SiO₂. Exposure of Fe₃O₄ ENMs significantly reduced the abundance of nitrogen-fixation related bacteria Bradyrhizobiaceae (from 2.94% to 2.40%) and iron-redox bacteria Sediminibacterium (from 2.15% to 2.07%). Additionally, Fe₃O₄ ENMs significantly increased populations of Nocardioides (from 1.63% to 1.77%), Chitinophaga sancti (from 1.12% to 2.08%), Pantoea (from 1.31% to 2.22%), Rhizobiumand (from 1.41% to 1.74%) and Burkholderia-Paraburkholderia (from 1.50% to 2.09%), which are associated with carbon cycling and plant growth promoting. This study provides a perspective on the response of rhizosphere microbial community and low molecular weight metabolites to ENMs exposure, providing a comprehensive understanding of the environmental risk of ENMs.

Current Trends in the Application of Nanomaterials for the Removal of Emerging Micropollutants and Pathogens from Water

Water resources contamination has a worldwide impact and is a cause of global concern. The need for provision of clean water is becoming more and more demanding. Nanotechnology may support effective strategies for the treatment, use and reuse of water and the development of next-generation water supply systems. The excellent properties and effectiveness of nanomaterials make them particularly suitable for water/wastewater treatment. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the main categories of nanomaterials used in catalytic processes (carbon nanotubes/graphitic carbon nitride (CNT/g-C₃N₄) composites/graphene-based composites, metal oxides and composites, metal–organic framework and commercially available nanomaterials). These materials have found application in the removal of different categories of pollutants, including pharmaceutically active compounds, personal care products, organic micropollutants, as well as for the disinfection of bacterial, viral and protozoa microbial targets, in water and wastewater matrices. Apart from reviewing the characteristics and efficacy of the aforementioned nanoengineered materials for the removal of different pollutants, we have also recorded performance limitations issues (e.g., toxicity, operating conditions and reuse) for their practical application in water and wastewater treatment on large scale. Research efforts and continuous production are expected to support the development of eco-friendly, economic and efficient nanomaterials for real life applications in the near future.