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. 2024 Sep 13;14(1):21443.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-70120-3.

Development of nanocomposite-selenium filter for water disinfection and bioremediation of wastewater from Hg and AgNPs

Osama M Darwesh  1 , Ibrahim A Matter  2 , Mostafa A Abdel-Maksoud  3 , Wahidah H Al-Qahtani  4 , Mohamed A El-Tayeb  3 , Ahmad S Kodous  5 , Mohammed Aufy  6
Affiliations

Development of nanocomposite-selenium filter for water disinfection and bioremediation of wastewater from Hg and AgNPs

Osama M Darwesh et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) are used in several sectors as antitumor, antimicrobial, and environmental adsorbents. Thus, the present research objective was the production of bacterial-SeNPs as an active and environmentally-friendly antibacterial and adsorbent agents and application into novel nanocomposite filter. From a total of 25 samples (soil, wastewater, and water) obtained from different locations in Egypt, 60 selenium-resistant bacterial isolates were obtained (on a mineral salt medium supplemented with selenium ions). After screening (based on the conversion of selenium from ionic form to nanoform), a superior bacterial isolate for SeNPs formation was obtained and molecular identified as Bacillus pumilus isolate OR431753. The high yield of SeNPs was noted after optimization (glucose as carbon source, pH 9 at 30 °C). The produced SeNPs were characterized as approximately 15 nm-diameter spherical nanoparticles, in addition to the presence of organic substances around these particles like polysaccharides and aromatic amines (protein residues). Also, they have antibacterial activity increased after formation of nanocomposite with nano-chitosan (SeNPs/NCh) against several pathogens. The antibacterial activity (expressed as a diameter of the inhibitory zone) averaged between 2.1 and 4.3, 2.7 and 4.8 cm for SeNPs and SeNPs/NCh, respectively compared with 1.1 to 1.8 cm for Amoxicillin. The produced nanoselenium/chitosan was used as a biofilter to remove mercury (Hg) and AgNPs as model chemicals with serious toxicity and potential pollutant for water bodies in many industries. The new SeNPs/NCh biofilter has proven highly effective in individually removing mercury and AgNPs from their synthetic wastewaters, with an efficiency of up to 99%. Moreover, the removal efficiency of AgNPs stabilized at 99% after treating them with the syringe filter-Se nanocomposite for 4 cycles of treatment (5 min each).

Keywords: Bacillus pumilus; Heavy metals removal; Nanochitosan; Polysaccharide; SeNPs biosynthesis; SeNPs/NCh biofilter.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Screening of the positive selenium reduction isolates for their ability to extracellular SeNPs biosynthesis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree for comparing the obtained bacterium (B. pumilus isolate OR431753) with related species on Genebank.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Optimization of selenium reduction reaction by B. pumilus isolate OR431753 under different carbon sources (a), glucose concentrations (b), temperature degrees (c), and pH values (d) for producing high yield of SeNPs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TEM image of SeNPs produced by B. pumilus isolate OR431753.
Figure 5
Figure 5
SEM–EDX characterization of SeNPs produced by B. pumilus isolate OR431753.
Figure 6
Figure 6
FTIR (a) and XRD (b) characterizations of SeNPs produced by B. pumilus isolate OR431753.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Antimicrobial properties of SeNPs and its nanocomposite with nanochitosan (SeNPs/NCh) comparing with Amoxicillin as standard antibiotic.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Purification of water contaminated by Hg+2 using syringe-nanocomposite-Se filter.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Bioremoval efficiency of silver nanoparticles by using syringe-nanocomposite-Se filter.
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