Diffusion coefficient and its dependency on some biochemical factors.

The diffusion coefficients for glucose and oxygen through the microbial aggregate were measured, and then the dependency on the biochemical factors was investigated. Kinetic and diffusion studies were carried out experimentally for this purpose. Both coefficients were found to be dependent not only on the bacteria concentration but also on the C/N ratio of microbial aggregate at the high bacteria concentration, when the temperature was 20 +/- 2 degrees C. On the other hand, these values were considered to be independent of both factors at the low bacteria concentration, when the temperature was 20 +/- 2 degrees C. In other words, both coefficients were approximately 86-95% of the values in water at the high bacteria concentration and nearly 100% of the values in water at the low bacteria concentration. It was also found that they were dependent on the temperature.