Transport of Escherichia coli strains isolated from spring water - Transport of Multiple Escherichia Coli Transport in Saturated Porous Media - page 85

1.E+00

1.E-01

1.E-02

SL03
FR08
FR02

1.E-03

FA03
SL20
FR05

1.E-04

1.E-05

1.E-03 1.E-02 1.E-01 1.E+00

Α i (-)

Fig. 6.3: Fraction of Escherichia coli input mass (

F ) retained in a column segment as

a function of segment sticking efficiency (

Α )

6.4.2 Minimum sticking efficiencies

For most of the strains, the relation between F and Α could be well described with a power
law distribution function ( Table 6.1 ) : coefficients of determination ( R 2 ) ranged from 0.77
(SL03) to 0.99 (FA03). Calculated minimum sticking efficiencies, mi Α , of the strains, were
mostly in the order of 10 -5 to 10 -4 ( Table 6.2 ) . Strain FR05 behaved differently: for this strain,
the segment sticking efficiency was invariably around 0.1, and therefore, also the minimum
sticking efficiency was estimated to be 0.1. In fact, due to this relatively high

Α the strain

min

was almost completely eliminated after passing the 1.5 m quartz sand column.

Table 6.1: Power-law distribution functions of Escherichia coli mass fraction retained

(

F in a saturated quartz sand column segment and the segment sticking
efficiencies (

)

Α ). Extrapolated minimum sticking efficiencies (

Α ) are given

min

in the column on the far right

R 2 (-) Strain Power law

Α (-)

min

1.34x10 -5

SL03

0.76

1.22

F = 8.78 Α

i i

FR08

0.96

1.72x10 -4

F = 1 0 0 .5 3 Α

1 .86

i i

1.83x10 -4 FR02

0.84

1.35

F = 1.11 Α

i i

0.91 8.13x10 -5 FA03

1.47

F = 10.29 Α

i i

SL20

0.99

4.72x10 -5

F = 68.46 Α

1.58

i i

FR05

0.03

~0.1

0.05

F = 0.08 Α

i i