A study on microbial disinfection of drinking waterusing nano silver

Abstract

Silver has been in use since ages in India, as the ancient and Vedic Indians have had the clear understanding on the disinfection properties of Silver. They have used silver vessels to preserve drinking water and for offerings to Gods. Based on the established fact above, this research is carried out using silver at nano particle size, The advantage of using nano sized silver powder is that it is almost equivalent to its ionic size and has a very large surface area per unit volume. This area per volume is the key to perform disinfection action on the disease causing bacteria. Disinfection takes place at sub nano level and the microbe cell structure undergoes the process of lyses, during disinfection cycle. The microscopic studies in this research have proven and established the disinfection ability of silver beyond doubt. The disinfection mechanism of silver at nano level is further streamlined in an applicable format as an equipment, so that the silver disinfection system could be readily used as a single unit. Various platforms carrying nano silver have been developed using, ceramics, activated carbon, fabric, polymer and cotton and synthetic fibers. Each of the equipment developed is studied for its performance of disinfection against time and flow along with study of leaching of silver in treated water. Finally the results are analyzed and a conclusion is presented at the end of the study with the future scope for further research.