Research on the Influence of Silver Clusters on Decomposer Microorganisms and E. Coli Bacteria

Modern methods of slime waste disposal utilized by wastewater treatment plants were analyzed. Domestic and foreign experience in the application of silver clusters in reducing pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic microorganisms inhabiting the waste sludge was studied. The main mechanisms of bactericidal and bacteriostatic effects silver clusters are capable of exerting on microorganisms were considered. Strains of microorganisms with the ability to recycle organic and inorganic substances present in the waste sludge into ecologically pure humus fertilizer in the course of their vital activity were selected. The effects of different concentrations of silver clusters on growth and development of the microorganisms decomposing organic compounds (Microbacterium terregens BSB-570, Streptococcus termophilus St5, Lactobacillus sp. 501 (2A4), Rhodococcus erythropolis, Bacillus fastidiosus, Arthrobacter sp. (Arthrobacter paraffineus) ATCC 15591, etc.), as well as on the Escherichia coli bacteria chosen as a model organism, were studied. For the first time, decomposers modified with silver clusters, i.e. resistant to high concentrations of silver clusters, able not only to grow, but also to reproduce normally and, consequently, to recycle the waste sludge, were obtained. Bacteriostatic and bactericidal concentrations of silver clusters with respect to decomposers and optimal concentration, at which the useful microorganisms are able to grow and reproduce actively and the pathogenic Escherichia coli die, were determined.