The effect of mineral carrier composition on phosphate-accumulating bacteria immobilization.

The goal of this study was to determine the dynamics and yield of immobilization of the phosphate-accumulating bacterium Acinetobacter junii on mineral carriers. As mineral carriers natural clinoptilolite tuff from Turkey (T) and Serbia (S) and natural bentonite (TER), in original and magnesium (Mg)-exchanged form were used. The key feature which determined the extent of immobilization of A. junii was the type of carrier; the immobilization yield decreased in order T>TER>S. The number of immobilized cells was significantly higher for the Mg-exchanged carriers when compared to their original counterparts (95 and 75 x 10(8)CFU g(-1) for T, 74 and 58 x 10(8)CFU g(-1) for TER, 19 and 6 x 10(8)CFU g(-1) for S). The Mg-exchanged T and S displayed a prolonged biofilm growth up to 24h, while the original counterparts reached the mature biofilm after 12h of incubation. Both forms of TER reached the mature biofilm after 24h of incubation, due to swelling property of the material. The number of immobilized cells correlated significantly negatively with particle size of the carrier, indicating that particle size is another important feature which determined the extent of immobilization. The Mg-exchange of original carriers resulted in significant increase of the zeta potential. When all of the materials were compared, the increase of the zeta potential of carriers correlated negatively with the number of immobilized cells, suggesting that the zeta potential of material is not a crucial factor which determined the immobilization of cells.