Selected
Bacteria Cultures
Thousand of different types of bacteria exist everywhere in our
world, and most of them carry on bacterial organic digestion in
some way. However, some of them are found only in a particular
environment, require specialized types of food, and/or have very
unique biological roles (niches).
A bacteria is a single cell life of form - each individual cell
is a separate, unique organism. Bacteria often grow into colonies
that appear as jelly-like masses, but each cell remains as independent.
Bacteria reproduce by a process called cell division. A mature
bacteria reproduces by dividing into two cells, each
identical to each other and the parent bacteria. Under ideal
conditions, bacteria can reproduce very rapidly, producing a new
generation every 20 to 30 minutes.
Following this reproduction process, we see that the
number of individual bacteria doubles with each
generation. The population explodes as the number of organisms
increases logarithmically. This population boom begins soon after
the bacteria is introduced into a favorable environment,
after a short lag time when the bacteria becomes acclimated to
the new conditions.
Obviously, this population cannot increase forever. At some point,
the food source will be depleted, waste products will
accumulate, or some other change in the environment. Will cause
the population to level off or decrease (such as a change in pH,
temperature, or oxygen content of the environment). Also, introduction
of any poisons into the environment may have negative effects
on the population, as well as competition from other types of
bacteria.
Bacteria can be classified
into different types :
- Aerobic types (which require
oxygen to live)
- Anaerobic (which can live
without oxygen )
- Facultative types can thrive
under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
For
waste digestion, we can identify several beneficial characteristics
that we want our chosen bacteria to have. The "good"
bacteria that we will choose must:
1.
Consume (digest) a wide variety of organic material that are
present in wastes.
2. Digest waste quickly and completely, without producing significant
odors of noxious gas.
3. Not cause any disease in man or animals - they must be
non-pathogenic.
4. Grow and reproduce quickly and readily in the environmental
conditions found in waste disposal systems.
Certain
bacteria belonging to the Bacillus species have
these desirable characteristics. They consume organic waste thousands
of times faster than the bacteria that are naturally
present in the waste. They grow and reproduce easily, are non-pathogenic,
and do not produce foul odors or gas as they digest waste.
These "good" bacteria are cultured (grown by artificial
means) on liquid or dry nutrient medium. These
cultured bacteria are then freeze dried to put them in a state
of suspension. They remain alive, ready to swim, eat, and
reproduce as soon as they are activated (rehydrated) and put into
the proper environment.
The
proper environment needed for rapid growth and reproduction
of these good bacteria must have these characteristics:
1.
A water medium containing food (organic waste).
2. Dissolved oxygen (for the aerobic types that require it) in
sufficient quantities.
3. Proper pH -- not too acid nor too alkaline -- between 6 and
9 on the pH scale.
4. Moderate temperature, between 50 deg °F and 110 deg °F.
