Impact of inorganic powder additives on the size and morphology of pellets of the microscopic filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger

Abstract

This paper has been focused on the impact of the set of microcrystal water-insoluble inorganic additives to dimension characteristics of pellets of the microscopic filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger. The selection of powder substances included montmorillonite clay mineral, silicon dioxide, iron oxide, one zeolitic tuff with mineral clinoptilolite as its main component, three synthetic zeolites, Na-mordenite, NaY and Na-ZSM-5, and titanium dioxide. This group is comprised of substances that are often components of various natural waters (including contaminated waters) and also frequent components of soil. Exceptions are synthetic zeolites and titanium dioxide. The impact of aforementioned substances was monitored on four Aspergillus niger strains isolated from soils at four Slovak locations, markedly differing in soil reaction values. Three of these soil samples have been affected by considerable contamination due to previous mining activities. Clay mineral montmorillonite reduced the size of the pellets regardless of the origin of strains, while the impact of other inorganic substances was either weak or variable depending on the type of inorganic substance and source location of the strains. The impact of natural zeolitic tuff was also similar, however, less significant.