Interpretation of adhesion behaviors between bacteria and modified basalt fiber by surface thermodynamics and extended DLVO theory

Surface properties of carrier are critical for microorganism initial adhesion and biofilm formation in wastewater treatment. Until now, there are few reports on adhesion behaviors between bacteria and inorganic fiber surface. In this study, inorganic basalt fiber (BF) was modified with cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) to make surface more hydrophilic and positively charged. The initial adhesion behaviors of BF modified with CPAM (CMBF) were interpreted by thermodynamics and extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) theory. According to the total interaction energy calculated by the extended DLVO theory, insurmountable energy barrier between BF and Escherichia coli (E. coli) made irreversible adhesion unachievable due to hydrophobicity and electronegativity of BF, but allowed reversible adhesion at second minimum. By contrast, the energy barrier between CMBF and E. coli could be overcome allowing irreversible bacterial adhesion and thus a huge amount of biomass because of hydrophilicity and electropositivity of CMBF. The results showed the total interaction energies were dominated by Lewis acid-base and electrostatic interactions and coating BF with CPAM could promote initial bacterial adhesion on carrier surface. Overall, the extended DLVO theory provides a comprehensive tool to interpret initial adhesion behaviors between bacteria and inorganic fibers.