Electric current induced bacterial inactivation in seawater: effects of various operating conditions

Pulse Voltage Electrical Stimulation for Bacterial Inactivation and Wound Healing in Mice with Diabetes

“…The longer the treatment was given, the fewer the number of bacteria was present. It has also been previously reported that inactivation increases with increasing treatment time and electric current intensity 19 . Gusmão et al in their study reported that the inactivation of Escherichia coli ( E. coli) and S. aureus increased along with time and current intensity 20 .…”

Biofilm removal efficacy using direct electric current in cross-flow ultrafiltration processes for water treatment

“…These results indicated that the killing of bacterial cells occurred within the biofilm matrix when a DC was applied inside the flow cell. Microbial inactivation in salt solution has been already investigated by directly applying electric current on the bacterial suspension [35,37]. In our study, the bacteria are embedded within the biofilm and are not in direct contact with Pt electrodes where the current was applied (Figure 1).…”

“…This velocity was maintained during the application of DC on the pre-grown biofilm to avoid the interference of other factors on biofilm environment. Moreover, the electrical shock duration (t = 90 s) was selected based on the study of Ayoub et al [37] who reported that for a low amperage (0.1 -1 A), the electric treatment should be applied for a duration greater than 30 s in order to affect the bacterial cells. Once the linear velocity (U0 = 0.073 m/s) and the shock time (t = 90 s) were figured out, these operating parameters were fixed to monitor the evolution of chlorine amount and pH as a function of current intensity increase (voltage amplitude increase), as plotted in Figure 2a.…”

“…The use of an electric field through electrolysis process to effectively eliminate bacteria has been demonstrated in the past [34], mainly achieved due to cell lysis. Exemplary studies [35][36][37][38][39] have shown an effective or full microbial inactivation under varying experimental conditions (current intensity [35], duration of electrical shock [35,37], electrode distance [37], bacteria type/concentration [36,38,39] and different electrolyte types [34]) when electrodes were directly placed in an electrolytic solution containing microbes. Wouters et al [40] reported that electric treatment is more efficient in killing the bacteria than the heat inactivation.…”

“…Wouters et al [40] reported that electric treatment is more efficient in killing the bacteria than the heat inactivation. Under the direct application of current to the electrolytic solution, the bacterial inactivation is primarily achieved by the production of local disinfectant due to oxidation/reduction reactions taking place at electrodes and is further concomitant by a change in pH [37,41].…”