Concentration and recovery of coliphages from water with bituminous coal

Water Environ Res. 2008 Mar;80(3):282-8. doi: 10.2175/106143007x220923.

Abstract

Coliphages represent a process indicator for fecal pollution. The coal bed concentration method prepared for enterovirus was refined for a concentration of coliphages. A bed made from 1.5 g of 120-mesh coal powder was used for concentrating coliphage from 200 mL of a water sample with or without the addition of aluminum chloride at different pH values. The isolated E. coli strain EC-R8 was found to be more susceptible to the desired coliphage and showed significant coliphage-coliform response, with clear plaque used for further studies. The complete coliphage adsorption was achieved with the addition of 0.0005 M AlCl3 at pH 6.0. Adsorbed coliphages were eluted with 3% beef extract in Mcllvaine buffer at pH 7.1, with an average recovery of 78.74%. This concentration technique was applied for the detection of coliphages from the well water of Nagpur city (India) and found to contain coliphages in the range of 2 to 28 plaque-forming units per liter (PFU/L).

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Coal*
  • Coliphages / isolation & purification*
  • Filtration / methods*
  • Humans
  • Water Pollution / analysis*
  • Water Purification / methods
  • Water Supply / analysis

Substances

  • Coal