Copper Nanoparticles Embedded Rice Husk for the Removal of Bacterial Contaminants from Drinking Water

ABSTRACT The objective of the study was to prepare copper nanoparticles (Cu-NP) embedded on rice husk and to use them as a cost effective approach for the removal of microbial contaminant from drinking water. The copper nanoparticles (Cu-NP) were prepared by using copper sulphate, sodium hydroxide and ascorbic acid and then embedded on rice husk for the removal of bacterial contaminants from drinking water. The Cu-NP embedded rice husk then characterized by SEM, EMAX and ICP-OES techniques. The antibacterial activity was determined by column studies using response surface methodology (RSM) based on three levels, three factorial Box Behnken Design (BBD). The significance of independent variables (flow rate, bacterial count and column height) and their interactions were tested by means the analysis of variance (ANOVA) with 95% confidence limits. The antibacterial susceptibility was optimized for flow rate, bacterial count and column height. High regression coefficient between the variable and response (R2=99.4%) showed good evaluation of experimental data by polynomial regression model. The optimum conditions suggested by the model for the variables such as flow rate, bacterial load and column height were 46 ml/min, 262 bacterial count/ml and 8 cm respectively with maximum actual removal of bacterial contaminants was of 95.5% and is very close to predicted value (94.15%). The prepared copper nanoparticles (Cu-NP) embedded on rice husk was found very effective for the removal of microbial contaminants (E. coli) from drinking water.