Sci.Int.(Lahore),24(4),147-151,2012 ISSN 1013-5316; CODEN: SINTE 8 147 APPLICATION OF NANOPARTICLES IN THE REMOVAL OF MICRO- ORGANISMS FROM WATER a* Moinuddin Ghauri, b Suhaib Umer Ilyas, a Irfan Ahmad, a* BCRC, Department. of Chemical Engineering, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore- Pakistan. b The University of Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan *Corresponding Author: drghauri@ciitlahore.edu.pk ABSTRACT: Water treatment for drinking purposes is gaining attraction in the developing world due to increasing trend in water borne infectious diseases. These diseases are caused by microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, protozoan etc. This paper presents an overview of nanotechnology application to disinfect these infectious microorganisms present in water because these microorganisms can multiply very rapidly in the body causing health and environmental concerns. A number of biological and chemical contaminants present in water have threatened its drinking quality. The utilization of nanoparticles to remove these biological infectious microorganisms from water is an efficient and promising technique used to improve the water drinking quality. This study mainly emphasizes on the comparison of some nanoparticles, such as metallic and non- metallic oxide nanoparticles, especially Titanium Dioxide, Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron and Carbon Nanotubes to remove organic impurities from the water. Keywords: Infectious diseases, bacteria, microorganisms, Titanium Dioxide, Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron, Carbon nanotubes 1. INTRODUCTION The most important resource left in the earth is water. According to an estimate, 1.2 Billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water [1]. Next to organic micro- pollutants, the presence of microbial micro- pollutants such as viruses is becoming a global dilemma in the production and reuse of drinking water. Production of clean drinking water is the priority of developing countries in the current era. A large investment is invested by public and private sectors for the production of cleaning water using different clean technologies. At community and hose hold level, interest in POU (point of use) for water cleaning technologies is increasing due to negligence and difficulties in overcoming this water sanitation problem at national/regional level. There are various technologies available for remediation such as biological treatment, physico-chemical and thermal treatment, but these are best suitable when applied to remove a specific type of pollutant from water. There is no such treatment method yet discovered, which can remove all type of pollutants. Although multiple or combinations of techniques can be applied to solve sanitation problem due to complex nature of polluted water, when applied to specific location to reduce contaminants amount. Nanotechnology can play a vital role in the application of POU devices due to its wide range in modern science. Researchers suggest that nanotechnology based materials are more efficient, durable and cheaper water treatment technologies than other methods. There are many nanotechnology based treatment methods available commercially and some are still in development. These products include catalysts, filtration membranes, water filters and nano particles for groundwater radiation. Realizing the nature of harmful microorganisms present in water and their environmental and health concerns, the present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of different nano-particles such as metallic and non-metallic oxide nanoparticles, especially titanium dioxide and silver catalysts for photo-catalytic disinfections.