TRANSPORTATION OF SPOROSARCINA PASTEURII IN POROUS MEDIA WITH DIFFERENT PARTICLE SIZES

Abstract

The current study aimed to determine the transportation distance of Sporosarcina pasteurii (ATCC 11859) and the number of cells present in porous media. The experiments were carried out in continuous-flow columns, which were plastic columns with an inner diameter of 2.4 cm and a height of 50 cm, and which contained glass beads with average diameters of 0.25 mm, 0.50 mm and 1 mm to mimic porous media. To investigate cell transport through columns, suspension of Sporosarcina pasteurii was introduced into columns at a flow rate of 2 mL/min and the cell densities of OD600 0.15, 0.75, 2.25. To count the bacteria in each section, the column was divided into five equal parts. The results showed that the most cells, which were counted as 1.72*1010 cells, were deposited in the columns packed with 0.25 mm glass beads for the experiments with OD600 2.25, while the deposited cell number decreased at the bottom of the column. The cell deposition was greater at the bottom of the column in the case of columns packed with 1 mm glass beads. According to the findings, while using smaller glass beads resulted in more cell deposition in the porous media, using larger glass beads resulted in more cell transport through the porous media. It can be concluded that larger particle sizes may result in easier transportation conditions for cells transporting deep into porous media.