Water to Air Bacterial Transfer by Bursting Bubbles

This paper reports experimental work relating to the transfer of bacteria from water to the air in a bubble aeration process. The work was initiated to verify the work of Blanchard and Syzdek on the bacterial concentration in droplets ejected from a water surface by an air bubble bursting at the surface. In the experiments conducted, verification was established for large bubble sizes but not the small bubble sizes. The experiments reported here using E. coli indicate that the concentration of bacteria in water droplets continues to increase as the droplet size decreases. This is in disagreement with previously reported experiments, which indicate maximum concentration at a droplet size of about 70μm diameter.