Evaluación de la factibilidad del uso de nanopartículas de óxido de bismuto como bactericida en muestras de aguas servidas en la Comunidad San Vicente de Lacas, Provincia de Chimborazo

Abstract

The aim of the current research was to evaluate the feasibility of bismuth oxide nanoparticles (Bi2O3) used as a bactericide for wastewater samples in San Vicente de Lacas community, located in Chimborazo province; for this, physical pH and turbidity tests as well as microbiological tests were carried out, which determined the number of bacterial colonies present in different culture media. First of all, a green synthesis was carried out to obtain the nanoparticles from Mentha arvensis extract, these synthesized nanoparticles were used to determine their bactericidal capacity, for which seeding tests every 1, 2, 4 and 6 hours were carried out with and without the use of bismuth oxide nanoparticles showing a decrease from 15 to 0 colonies in Nutrient Agar and from 5 to 0 colonies in Blood Agar. For the statistical analysis, Pearson Correlation was used, which established an inverse correlation between the number of colonies and the exposure time of the irrigation wastewater samples to bismuth oxide nanoparticles. It is concluded that the use of bismuth oxide nanoparticles as a bactericide is quite efficient due to its ability to reduce the bacterial load in the samples used. Testing with other types of contaminants is recommended to assess the behavior of bismuth oxide nanoparticles.