Minimizing Virus Transport in Porous Media by Optimizing Solid Phase Inactivation

Author(s): Sasidharan, Salini; Bradford, Scott A; Simůnek, Jiři; Torkzaban, Saeed | Abstract: The influence of virus type (PRD1 and ΦX174), temperature (flow at 4 and 20°C), a no-flow storage duration (0, 36, 46, and 70 d), and temperature cycling (flow at 20°C and storage at 4°C) on virus transport and fate were investigated in saturated sand-packed columns. The vast majority (84-99.5%) of viruses were irreversibly retained on the sand, even in the presence of deionized water and beef extract at pH = 11. The reversibly retained virus fraction () was small (1.6 × 10 to 0.047) but poses a risk of long-term virus contamination. The value of and associated transport risk was lower at a higher temperature and for increases in the no-flow storage period due to the temperature dependency of the solid phase inactivation. A model that considered advective-dispersive transport, attachment (), detachment (), solid phase inactivation (μ), and liquid phase inactivation (μ) coefficients, and a Langmuirian blocking function provided a good description of the early portion of the breakthrough curve. The removal parameters were found to be in the order of g μ gg μ. Furthermore, μ was an order of magnitude higher than μ for PRD1, whereas μ was two and three orders of magnitude higher than μ for ΦX174 at 4 and 20°C, respectively. Transport modeling with two retention, release, and inactivation sites demonstrated that a small fraction of viruses exhibited a much slower release and solid phase inactivation rate, presumably because variations in the sand and virus surface roughness caused differences in the strength of adhesion. These findings demonstrate the importance of solid phase inactivation, temperature, and storage periods in eliminating virus transport in porous media. This research has potential implications for managed aquifer recharge applications and guidelines to enhance the virus removal by controlling the temperature and aquifer residence time.