engleski

Perlite as a carrier of phosphate-accumulating bacteria

The phosphate (P)-accumulating bacteria are important for biological P removal from wastewater. Currently, attention is being drawn to the immobilisation of desired bacteria on different carriers in order to achieve a better efficiency of the wastewater treatment. In this study, two size fractions (0.1-1 and 0.1-2 mm) of different forms of expanded perlite (original, autoclaved and magnesium-exchanged) were investigated as possible carriers of P accumulating bacterium A. junii. After 24h of incubation, most of the cells in the reactors were immobilised onto the perlite particles by means of adsorptive growth, while the rest of the biomass remained as free cells in the supernatant. The highest immobilisation rate of 3.27 &plusmn ; ; 0.13x109 CFU/g along with the highest removal of P (49.05 &plusmn ; ; 0.97 mg/g of perlite) was in the reactors containing the magnesium-exchanged perlite of particle size 0.1-1 mm. Considering the very high bacterial biomass accompanied by high P removal and satisfactory reactor performance, the magnesium-exchanged perlite proved to be the most suitable carrier of bacteria among the materials tested in this study.

perlite; bacteria; wastewater; immobilization

nije evidentirano