Abstract:The adsorption of bacteria on sulfide minerals surface was studied, and the selective adsorption mechanism of cells on the sulfide minerals was investigated by means of FTIR, UVS and XPS. The results show that the three strains of bacteria adsorbed more preferentially on pyrite than on other two sulfide minerals surface at neutral and alkaline pH conditions. FTIR and UVS of three strains of bacteria indicate that there are more functional groups on their surface, such as O—H, C=O, N—H, C—O, and the content of saccharide is more than that of protein. The state of every element on sulfide minerals surface was analyzed by XPS. The empty orbital number of electronic shell of metal ions on minerals surface is important in selective adsorption process, and some stable constants of metal coordinates can be used to explain the contribution of some groups in saccharide of cell wall to the selective adsorption.

Key words: selective adsorption; surface; bacteria; sulfide minerals; bio-flotation