Virus retention and transport through Al-oxide coated sand columns: effects of ionic strength and composition

Knowledge of the factors that influence the fate and transport of viruses in porous media is very important for accurately determining groundwater vulnerability and for developing protective regulations. In this study, six saturated sand column experiments were performed to examine the effects of a positively charged Al-oxide, which was coated on sand particles, on the retention and transport of viruses (φX174 and MS-2) in background solutions of different ionic strength and composition. We found that the Al-oxide coating on sand significantly removed viruses during their transport in a phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. Mass balance calculations showed that 34% of the input MS-2 was inactivated/irreversibly sorbed on the surface of Al-oxide coated sand whereas 100% of φX174 was recovered. Results from this study also indicated that higher ionic strength facilitated the transport of both φX174 and MS-2 through the Al-oxide coated sand. This was attributed to the effect of ion shielding, which at higher ionic strength decreased the electrostatic attraction between the viral particles and the sand surface and consequently decreased virus sorption. Strong effect of the ionic strength indicates that an outer-sphere complexation mechanism was responsible for the virus sorption on the Al-oxide coated sand. Ion composition of the background solutions was also found to be a significant factor in influencing virus retention and transport. Virus transport was enhanced in the presence of phosphate (HPO42−) as compared to bicarbonate (HCO3−), and the effect of HPO42− was more significant on MS-2 than on φX174. The presence of bivalent cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+) increased virus transport because the cations partially screened the negative charges on the viruses therefore decreased the electrostatic attraction between the positively charged sand surface and the negatively charged viruses. Mass recovery data indicated that bivalent cations gave rise to a certain degree of inactivation/irreversibly sorption of φX174 on the surface of Al-oxide coated sand. On the contrary, the bivalent cations appeared to have protected MS-2 from inactivation/irreversibly sorption. This study provides some insights into the mechanisms responsible for virus retention and transport in porous media.