Different roles of silica nanoparticles played in virus transport in saturated and unsaturated porous media

Because of the complexity of contaminants infiltrating groundwater, it is necessary to study the co-transport of contaminants in the vadose and saturated zones. To investigate the role of inorganic colloids in the transport of biocolloids through porous media, a series of experiments were performed using columns packed with sand. The Escherichia coli phage (E. coli phage) was used as the model virus and silica as the model colloid in this study. The model virus exhibited a higher degree of attachment when compared with silica under similar experimental conditions. Under unsaturated flow conditions, the degree of virus retention was higher than in the corresponding saturated flow case, regardless of the presence of silica. Mass recovery and breakthrough curve data showed that silica hindered virus transport in saturated porous media. The model virus exhibited a higher degree of retention in the presence of silica. This could be related to pore structure changes caused by aggregated virus-silica particles located within the pores of the sand. Conversely, the suspended virus retained at the air-water interface provided new retention sites for other colloids; the retention was observed to be higher in the presence of colloidal silica in the saturated columns. In the corresponding unsaturated experiments, silica was observed to play the opposite function with respect to virus transport, which demonstrated that silica facilitated virus transport in the presence of unsaturated porous media. Capillary forces were stronger than the virus-silica interactions, and inhibited the aggregation of particles. Suspended silica competes with the virus for sorption sites because of a high affinity for the air-water interface. This competition inhibits virus retention by electrostatic repulsion of like-charged particles, and concomitantly facilitates virus transport under unsaturated conditions.