Adsorptions

Model for Caulobactor Attachment to Chalcopyrite

The mechanism for caulobactor (~1um diameter) attachment to particles of chalcopyrite (~100um) share many similarities with a standard adsorption problem. The Langmuir isotherm has been adopted for modelling caulobactor to chalcopyrite. The model defined 3 distinct regions, the surface, subsurface and bulk. The surface is the interface between chalcopyrite and the medium, with the medium being the suspension fluid holding both the caulobactor and chalcopyrite. The surface consist of a finite number of sites for caulobactor attachment. The subsurface is an arbitrary volume around the surface where we allow the concentration of caulobactor to fluctuate. The bulk is everything else, it differs from the subsurface as we assume the concentration of caulobactor is relatively constant. This model hence assumes the total number of caulobactor in the system is much greater than the totally number of attachment sites on chalcopyrite.