Standard Water Treatment Technique Removes and Inactivates an Enveloped Virus

Enveloped viruses have been detected in untreated wastewater, but scientists still don't fully understand the fate and infectivity of these viruses during water purification at treatment plants. Now, researchers reporting in American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology have discovered that a standard water treatment technique, iron(III) coagulation, and its electrically driven counterpart, iron(0) electrocoagulation, can efficiently remove and inactivate a model enveloped virus. Enveloped viruses have an outer coating of lipids and proteins that helps protect their genetic material. Typically, disrupting this coat inactivates the virus. Until now, most studies have investigated only disinfection by chlorine or ultraviolet light as a means to control