Biofilm with highly heterogeneous interior structure for pollutant removal: Cell distribution and manipulated mass transport
Journal
Bioresource Technology
Journal Volume
343
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
Biofilm wastewater treatment had been applied in practice. Conventionally the biofilm was modeled as a uniform structure to simplify the analysis. This study for the first time established a three-dimensional biofilm model with distributions separating living cells, Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and pores, based on which the local fluid flow velocity and pollutant diffusion and reaction fluxes inside the biofilm were numerically evaluated. Both the uniform structured and previously proposed heterogeneous models had been confirmed to overestimate the performances of a biofilm for wastewater treatment. The survival strategies of living cells in biofilm were discussed. Besides exposing to fresh pollutants for maximizing pollutant uptake, the tendency to form small aggregates of cells for shortening diffusion length so furnishing the pollutant with reduced diffusional resistance to living cells was also for the first time noted. This communication advanced the knowledge to comprehend the detailed processes in biofilm. ? 2021 Elsevier Ltd
Subjects
Convection
Diffusion
Interior structure
Multiple staining
Performance
Cells
Cytology
Flow velocity
Pollution
Wastewater treatment
Biofilm models
Cell distribution
Extracellular
Living cell
Pollutants removal
Uniform structure
Biofilms
biofilm
cell
mass transport
performance assessment
pollutant removal
wastewater treatment
article
cellular distribution
diffusion
fluid flow
pollutant
polymerization
thermodynamics
velocity
waste water management
bioreactor
Bioreactors
Environmental Pollutants
Extracellular Polymeric Substance Matrix
Type
journal article