Influence of physicochemical bacterial surface properties on adsorption to inorganic porous supports

Summary The effect of the hydrophobicity and the electrostatic charge of bacterial cell surfaces on the initial phase of adsorption to inorganic porous supports with SiO₂ or Al₂O₃ as the main components was investigated. The physicochemical surface properties of various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were characterized by water contact angle and zeta-potential measurements. The influence of microbial charge on adsorption was investigated by varying the ionic strength of the suspending liquid. The amount of Escherichia coli cells adsorbed to Siran and B supports increased with increasing electrolyte concentration. The effect of cell surface hydrophobicity on the extent of adsorption was demonstrated at high ionic strength (0.15 m NaCl) where charge effects were reduced. The supports applied in this study promoted the adsorption of hydrophilic bacteria.Offprint requests to: H. Ziehr