The effect of distribution of iron-oxyhydroxide grain coatings on the transport of bacterial cells in porous media |
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Authors: | E P Knapp Janet S Herman George M Hornberger Aaron L Mills |
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Affiliation: | (1) Program of Interdisciplinary Research in Contaminant Hydrogeology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA, US |
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Abstract: | Among the demonstrated processes influencing the transport of bacteria through aquifers, the deposition of cells on mineral
surfaces is one of the most important. For example, understanding the transport of introduced bacteria through aquifers is
essential to designing some in situ bioremediation schemes. The impact of the presence and distribution of Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide-coated
sand grains on bacterial transport through porous media was evaluated in column experiments in which bacteria (short rods;
1.2 μm length) were eluted through columns of quartz sand (0.5–0.6 mm in diameter) for several conditions of chemical heterogeneity
of mineral substrate. Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide-coated sand was present as 10% of the mass, and it was arranged in three treatments:
(1) homogeneously distributed, and present as a discrete layer (2) at the top and (3) at the bottom of 14-cm-long sand columns.
A pulse input of 108 cells ml–1 was introduced in an artificial groundwater solution flowing at 14 cm h–1 through the column, and eluted cells were counted. Peak breakthrough occurred at 1.0 pore volume. A large proportion of cells
were retained; 14.7–15.8% of the cells were recovered after three pore volumes of solution had eluted through clean quartz
sand, and only 2.1–4.0% were recovered from the Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide-coated sand mixtures. The three physical arrangements
of the chemical heterogeneity resulted in essentially the same breakthrough of cells, indicating that the spatial distribution
of iron coating does not affect the transport of bacteria. The results of the column transport experiments, which mimic hydrogeological
conditions encountered in field problems, are consistent with our mechanistic understanding of bacterial sorption.
Received: 10 April 1996 · Accepted: 17 February 1997 |
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Keywords: | Transport Bacteria Iron Groundwater |
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