Using Silver Nanoparticles Coated on Activated Carbon Granules in Columns for Microbiological Pollutants Water Disinfection in Abu Rawash area, Great Cairo, Egypt

The present work highlights the high efficiency of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) coated onto activated carbon (AC) granules in antimicrobial activities for water purification. Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) were prepared by polysaccharide reduction method. Silver nitrate was taken as the metal precursor and glucose as a reducing agent. The formation of silver nanoparticles was monitored using UV-Vis spectroscopy. Activated carbon (AC) granules were coated with silver nanoparticles by impregnation of AC in super saturation solutions with different concentrations of Ag- NPs. The resulted Ag-NPs/AC were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The antimicrobial susceptibility of the synthesized Ag-NPs/AC was investigated using inhibition zone, impregnation and column techniques against E. coli. The results reflect the high efficiency of the prepared Ag-NPs coated onto AC granules for the water disinfection from microorganism in a short period of time (maximum of 5 min) even at higher E. coli counts ~ 10 6 cfu/ml. Ag-NPs/AC was also used as column form for water purification. At a flow rate of 0.8 L/min, the output count of E. coli was zero when the input water had a bacterial load of�10 4 cfu/ml. Ag-NPs coated onto AC granules performed efficiently in bringing down the bacterial count of four actual polluted samples to zero. Combined with low cost and effectiveness in prohibiting the growth of E. coli, such materials should have wide applications to drinking water disinfectant.