摘要 |
<p>An immobilized microbe composite which comprises a porous high surface area inorganic support having bonded to the internal surfaces of the pores thereof a controlled population of microbes selected from microbes which reproduce by fission, bacteria, yeast cells and fungus-like organisms which reproduce via spores and exhibit mycelial growth, the said support being water-insoluble and non-toxic to the microbes and having a controlled porosity such that at least 70% of the pores, on a pore size distribution basis, have a pore diameter which, in the case of a population of microbes reproducing by fission and bacteria ranges from a size at least as large as the smallest dimension of the said fission- reproducing microbes of bacteria to less than five times the largest dimension thereof which, in the case of a population of yeast cells, ranges from a size at least as large as the smallest dimension of the said cells to less than four times the largest dimension thereof and which, in the case of a population of fungus-like microbes, ranges from a size at least as large as the smallest dimension of the spores thereof to less than sixteen times the largest dimension of the spores thereof.</p> |