Kinetic studies of attachment and detachment of microbial cells from soil

Abstract

s A mathematical model was developed to describe the kinetics of cell attachment and detachment from soil. Soil‐column experiments were performed to evaluate the model parameters. Pseudomonas putida G7 capable of degrading naphthalene was used as a model microorganism. A sediment sample taken from an uncontaminated area near a coal tar waste site in upstate New York, USA was used as a test soil. The kinetics of cell attachment and detachment from the model soil could be described by the developed first‐order model. The equilibrium constant of attachment (11.4 ml g−1), the rate coefficient of cell attachment (0.299 ml g−1 min−1), and the rate coefficient of cell detachment (0.0263 min−1) were determined from the soil‐column experiments. The equilibrium constant of attachment determined in this study (11.4 ml g−1) was within the range of those reported in the literature for bacterial attachment to soil (0.55 to 12.6 ml g−1). The kinetic model successfully predicted the data of batch experiments for cell attachment and detachment from soil.