Effective elimination of water-borne Escherichia coli using archaeal poly-g-glutamate-based materials

Escherichia coli is used worldwide as a fecal indicator species to assess the quality of (drinking) water. Active carbons are used for the removal of chemical pollutants, but are ineffective in the inactivation of water-borne pathogens such as E. coli. Herein, we developed poly- g -glutamate-ion complex-coated active carbons (PGAIC-AC) and examined their ability to eliminate E. coli from a laboratory model of water pollution (~ 2.0 × 104 CFU/mL) at room temperature. The results showed that E. coli was virtually eliminated when using PGAIC-AC as a dispersant. In fact, the log reduction values were estimated to be > 1.19. In this study, we further constructed simple but effective bacteria-elimination system with a PGAIC-AC–embedded column. This PGAIC-AC system can be utilized to purify water when no electricity or specialized equipment is available.