Development of permselective Membranes for application of enterococcus faecalis removal

Abstract

Enterococcus continues to create new therapeutic problems and dilemmas since it has the ability to spread penicillin and vancomycin resistance to other gram positive species. In order to ensure removal and inactivation of enterococcus, increasing the dose for chemical disinfectant, chlorine, is required which may result in higher concentration of oxidation by-product that may cause cancer. Membranes are now being used for bacteria removal as it can improve the water quality while avoiding formation of carcinogens. This study is conducted to develop membranes with different polymer concentrations which were 10%, 15% and 16% as well as different additives (PVP and PEG) and obtain the best formulation which can produce high performance ultrafiltration membrane in removal of Enterococcus faecalis.