Antibacterial activity of heavy metal-loaded natural zeolite.

The antibacterial activity of natural zeolitized tuffs containing 2.60wt.% Cu(2+), 1.47 Zn(2+) or 0.52 Ni(2+) were tested. Antibacterial activities of the zeolites against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were tested after 1h and 24h of exposure to 1g of the zeolite in 100mL of three different media, namely Luria Bertani, synthetic wastewater and secondary effluent wastewater. The antibacterial activities of the zeolites in Luria Bertani medium were significantly lower than those in the other media and negatively correlated with the chemical oxygen demand of the media. The Ni-loaded zeolite showed high leaching of Ni(2+) (3.44-9.13wt.% of the Ni(2+) loaded) and weak antibacterial activity in the effluent water. Since Cu-loaded zeolite did not leach Cu(2+) and the leaching of Zn(2+) from Zn-loaded zeolite was low (1.07-1.61wt.% of the Zn(2+) loaded), the strong antibacterial activity classified the Cu- and Zn-loaded zeolite as promising antibacterial materials for disinfection of secondary effluent water.