Effective Removal of Enteric Viruses by Moringa oleifera Seed Extract Functionalized Cotton Filter

Abstract

Accessible and low-cost point-of-use water treatment technology have significant potential to mitigate the risk to public health, particularly in areas with limited resources and in disaster scenarios. Natural cotton fibers functionalized with water-soluble proteins from Moringa oleifera seeds (MO-cotton filter) are a promising technology that exhibits high water permeability and effective removal of various contaminants.. Here, we demonstrated the performance of MO-cotton filters under practically relevant conditions to remove mammalian virus spiked in groundwater. Specifically, MO-cotton filters achieved >3.2-log₁₀ reduction at a superficial velocity of 0.7 m/h of two mammalian viruses, Tulane virus (TV, Caliciviridae, nonenveloped virus) and Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV, Coronaviridae, enveloped virus), which are representative of a significant portion of waterborne illnesses. We further evaluated the risk of virus particles detached due to shear forces by testing their infectivity and found that the viruses accumulated on the MO-cotton filters pose a minimal risk of contaminating the drinking water source. These findings support that the MO-cotton filter can serve as a point-of-use water purification technology, effectively reducing viruses to a safe drinking water level.