Removal of bacteriophages with different surface charges by diverse ceramic membrane materials in pilot spiking tests

This study examines mechanisms for removal of bacteriophages (MS2 and phiX174) by ceramic membranes without application of flocculants. The ceramic membranes considered included ultra- and microfiltration membranes of different materials. Phages were spiked into the feed water in pilot scale tests in a waterworks. The membranes with pore sizes of 10 nm provided a 2.5–4.0 log removal of the phages. For pore sizes of 50 nm, the log removal dropped to 0.96–1.8. The membrane with a pore size of 200 nm did not remove phages. So, the removal of both MS2- and phiX174-phages depended on the pore size of the membranes. But apart from pore size also other factors influence the removal of phages. Removal was 0.5–0.9 log higher for MS2-phages compared with phiX174-phages. Size exclusion seems to be the major but not the only mechanism which influences the efficiency of phage removal by ceramic membranes.