Membrane-based methods of virus concentration from water: a review of process parameters and their effects on virus recovery

Abstract

A critical analysis of how concentration process parameters impact virus recovery during primary concentration of water samples.

Sewage analysis as a tool for the COVID-19 pandemic response and management: the urgent need for optimised protocols for SARS-CoV-2 detection and quantification

“…The main challenge of the application of such methods concerns the low abundance of viral particles and the establishment of low enough Limits of Detection (LOD), requiring thus the utilisation of reliable concentration methods prior to viral RNA extraction [ 63 ]. The wastewater, due to its high chemical and biological complexity, may result in low viral recovery yields, or poorly reproducible yields or both [ 64 ], which may hinder the association of waterborne viruses to specific disease outbreaks. In addition, the complex composition of wastewater hinders the easy detection of viruses in such matrices, as both particulate and dissolved constituents inherently present in wastewater get concentrated along with the target virus and can influence the virus recovery yield of the concentration method.…”

“…UF, employing tangential flow (i.e. cross-flow), has been also successfully utilised for the concentration of viruses in wastewater, but challenges of engineering such as membrane fouling and non-reversible adsorption of viruses to filtration components unit may affect the duration of the sample concentration and result in low recovery yields [ 64 ]. The use of pre-filtration prior to UF to minimise the fouling phenomena may result in the loss of viruses, especially when the latter are present in low concentrations in the effluent organic matter that may be retained by the membranes [ 46 ].…”

Virus recovery by tangential flow filtration: A model to guide the design of a sample concentration process

“…In addition, M can serve to guide the process design-for example, by selecting the optimal rate of sample concentration (Figure 6). 4. Data comparison and analysis.…”

“…Indeed, the selection of TFF process parameters has been largely heuristic making interlaboratory and interstudy comparisons of virus recovery data difficult. 4 The present paper is intended to address this challenge by introducing a simple framework for process design and interpretation of virus recovery data during primary concentration of environmental samples by TFF. In what follows, we derive a model for virus recovery based on a mass balance on viruses in TFF and introduce two parameters-rate-normalized loss and figure of merit that facilitate quantification and comparison of recovery data.…”

“…Concentration and recovery of viruses from large water samples to volumes amenable to rapid assays is a critical first step in virus quantification. [1][2][3][4] Adsorptive losses of viruses during the sample concentration stage result in virus recoveries that are unacceptably low, poorly reproducible, or both. These problems often prohibit definitive association of waterborne viruses with specific disease outbreaks and hinder efforts in emerging fields such as wastewater epidemiology.…”