Fluorescent microspheres as virion surrogates in low-pressure membrane studies

Microspheres were found to be poor surrogates for bacteriophages at the bench scale in testing UF membranes, but adequate in testing MF membranes with lower microbial rejection. The findings presented here have implications for use of microspheres as surrogates for other microorganisms. If surface charge and other characteristics are not properly considered, using microspheres as surrogates for microorganisms may yield inconsistent results where the rejection mechanism is by adsorption, adhesion, or where electrostatic considerations are important, rather than by simple size exclusion.