Water microfiltration by antimicrobial Nano-fibrous membrane developed from PAN nanofibers functionalized with CTAB

The aim of this study was to create a polymericnanofibrous membrane for water microbial microfiltration using electrospining method. PAN nanofibers were obtained by needle electrospining device in various time intervals. Fibers morphology was characterized utilizing SEM and FTIR. The results of SEM observations showed average fiber diameter of 350 ± 16 nm. PAN/CTAB solutions were then prepared by adding different concentrations of CTAB as biocidal agent to create functionalized nanofibers.Due to testing the filters’ efficiency, membranes were employed in a custom designed continuous semi pilot system. The contaminated water subjected to this experiment was artificial waste water by E-coli. Samples were collected before and after filtration. Microbial culture test, spectroscopy and EC meter tests were conducted to observe the physical and antimicrobial effects of PAN and PAN-CTAB filters. Functionalized filter showed a great result of 99.09% bacterial removal.