Mechanism controlling the attachment of coronavirus surrogate to the bentonite clays based on experimental studies

The pathogenic waste presents a significant threat due to infectious microorganisms, potentially endangering human and animal health, compromising food safety, disrupting ecosystems, and causing economic repercussions. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the necessity for robust biomedical waste management. Bentonite clay barriers offer a solution to prevent waste migration; however, understanding viral pathogen sorption to clays is crucial for disposal facilities. The potential adsorption mechanism could involve electrostatic interactions, cation bridging, hydrogen bonding, or hydrophobic interactions. The precise mechanism of clay–virus interactions is still unknown due to variations in virus type, changes in its surface proteins, and clay type. The potential mechanism for the clay-virus interaction can be elucidated using the sorption characteristics. The present work utilized the Newcastle disease virus as a surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. The present work considered the equilibrium and kinetic attachment studies on the two bentonites, B1 and B2, of varying plasticity in their natural form and homo-ionized with sodium, potassium, and calcium ions. The experimental results supported cation bridging as the primary mechanism for clay–virus interactions. This work contributes to a better understanding of clay-based barriers for pathogens and supports the strategic design of more effective containment systems for biomedical waste.