PVA electrospun mats containing viable bacteria for water remediation

S. ESTEVEZ ARECO; R. CANDAL; C. DUCA; J. CIMADORO; L. GUZ; S. GOYANES

Ciudad Obregón, Sonora

Simposio; The Sixth International Symposium on Environmental Biotechnology and Engineering; 2018

The preparation of hybrid materials that combine the mechanical and structuralproperties of polymer nanofibers with the functional groups presented in bacteriamembranes leads to the generation of versatile and polyfunctional systems forseveral applications (supported biosorbents and filters1, biosynthesis bymicroorganisms, bacteria cryo-preservation2, among others). A new hybridbiomaterial consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers mats obtained byelectrospinning with bacteria entrapped inside was developed. The viable bacteriawere entrapped inside by submerging the material in PBS with Escherichia coli for24 hs at 37 °C to allow bacterial adhesion. The aim of this work was to study theinteraction between bacteria and the electrospun mats, and its possible applicationas a cryo-preservative support for bacteria and as a hybrid biofilter.The bacteria were found to be inside the nanofibers network holes, as observed byfluorescent microscopy. No bacteria were observed on the mats surface, asdetermined by FE-SEM. This hybrid membrane was able to preserve bacteria aliveeven after been preserved at -20 °C for one month. The present developmentcould be used, for example, as a bioreactor, in medical applications, or as afiltering membrane for water treatment. To demonstrate its applicability as a heavymetal removal membrane, the hybrid material was successfully used to removecopper from water without releasing bacteria into the aqueous media. The presentmaterial opens the door to membranes in which different species of bacteria couldbe combined with electrospun mats for specific environmental applications.