Antibacterial-based ionic liquids for environmental wastewater treatment
Megawati Zunita, Budiman Batara
Abstract
The volume of wastewater in the environment is increasing, so a new breakthrough is needed to overcome the pollutants contained in it, such as bacteria, heavy metal ions, and organic compounds. Ionic liquids (ILs) have antibacterial properties, so they can be used as antibacterial agents to inhibit the growth of bacteria and even destroy them. To effectively inhibit bacteria in wastewater, it is critical to consider the hydrophilic, lipophilic, polar, or non-polar properties of ILs. Imidazolium-based cations are considered to have an excellent antibacterial activity level compared to other cations. As an antibacterial agent, ILs work by getting inside the bacterial membrane through the cell wall, then destroying the DNA and ribosomal components which induce bacterial cell death. The optimum condition of imidazolium-based ILs has the best performance compared to other types of cations, which can be seen from their effectiveness in inhibiting bacteria based on minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values. This review paper concludes that ILs have great potential in the future to be applied as antibacterial agents in wastewater treatment. However, from an economic point of view, the use of ILs still needs further study because it is always the biggest challenge in wastewater treatment applications.