ABSTRACT
To solve these problems, microcalorimetry may be used as a treatment to control against biofouling and MIC. Starting in the 1970s this technique has been successfully used in medical research to optimize the choice and dosage of antibiotics (Binford et al., 1973). Furthermore, microcalorimetry has been used for monitoring microbial growth (von Stockar and Marison, 1989), cell adhesion to surfaces (Humphrey and Marshall, 1984), and biofilm generation (Wentzien et al., 1994a). Different habitats like soil (Ljungholm et al., 1979), solid surfaces such as ore (Schroter and Sand, 1993) or biofilms (Lock and Ford, 1983) can easily be analyzed for microbial activity. The metabolism of either aerobic or anaerobic bacteria can be measured (Traore et al., 1981; von Stockar and Marison, 1989). Microcalorimetry is also well suited for mea-
surements of slow growing, chemolithotrophic bacteria (Schroter and Sand, 1993). The substrate turnover can be determined with calorimetric measure ments as shown for bacterial pyrite oxidation (Rohwerder et al., 1998). Thus, monitoring of acid rock drainage formation in sulfidic mine waste and of leach ing activity in bioleaching plants for metal recovery becomes possible (Roh werder et al., 1997; Schippers et al., 1995).
