Abstract
Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) is extensively studied as a strategic method to inactivate pathogenic microbes in wastewater for addressing the limitations associated with chlorination, ozonation, and ultraviolet irradiation as disinfection methods, which generally promote the development of resistant genes and harmful by-products such as trihalomethanes. PACT is dependent on photons, oxygen, and a photosensitizer to induce cytotoxic effects on various microbes by generating reactive oxygen species. Photosensitizers such as porphyrins have demonstrated significant microbial inactivation through PACT, hence now explored for wastewater phototreatment. This review aims to evaluate the efficacy of porphyrins and porphyrin-conjugates as photosensitizers for wastewater photoinactivation. Concerns relating to the application of photosensitizers in water treatment are also evaluated. This includes recovery and reuse of the photosensitizer when immobilized on solid supports.
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The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This work was supported by the Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability (iNanoWS), College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET), University of South Africa, South Africa.
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All authors contributed immensely to putting together this paper. Knowledge S. Ndlovu: Conceptualization, Writing—original draft, Makwena Justice Moloto: Writing—review & editing, Validation, Kutloano Edward Sekhosana: Writing—review & editing, Validation, Thabo Thokozani Innocent Nkambule: Writing—review & editing, Validation, Muthumuni Managa: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing- Original draft preparation, Validation.
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Ndlovu, K.S., Moloto, M.J., Sekhosana, K.E. et al. Porphyrins developed for photoinactivation of microbes in wastewater. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 11210–11225 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24644-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24644-8