Scaling Bacterial Filtration Rates in Different Sized Porous Media

• Published in: Journal of environmental engineering (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 122; no. 5; pp. 407 - 415
• Main Authors: Martin, Michael J, Logan, Bruce E, Johnson, William P, Jewett, David G, Arnold, Robert G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reston, VA American Society of Civil Engineers 01.05.1996
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Groundwaters; Natural water pollution; Pollution; TECHNICAL PAPERS; Water treatment and pollution; Pseudomonadales; Filtration; Porous medium; Theoretical study; Pseudomonadaceae; Bacteria; Water pollution; Pseudomonas fluorescens; Sediments; Biological contamination; Packed column; Ground water
• ISSN: 0733-9372; 1943-7870
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(1996)122:5(407)

Aquifer sediments contain a wide distribution of particle sizes, but only a single collector diameter ( d ) can be used in a filtration equation. To establish a method for selecting a characteristic d when media are composed of different sized particles, we measured bacterial retention in columns packed with either crushed quartz sand (separated into three different size ranges) or borosilicate glass beads. The best methods for choosing d were those that produced nearly constant collision efficiencies ( 's). Characteristic diameters included: d10 (10% of all particles were smaller), d90 (90% of all particles were smaller), d a (arithmetic mean), and d g (geometric mean), where all diameters were calculated using number, area, and volume size distributions. Bacterial 's decreased in proportion to the distance traveled in the packed bed, and were scaled by the number of bacteria-sediment collisions using a dimensionless collision number ( ). These comparisons indicated that characteristic diameters based on the smaller particles ( d a and d g using number distributions, and d10 using a volume distribution) most accurately described bacterial transport in the different-sized porous media.