Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Biotechnol Bioeng. 2012 Apr;109(4):1031-42. doi: 10.1002/bit.24381. Epub 2011 Dec 12.
A 3D Biofilm model, appropriate for complex porous media support structures, is successfully modified such that non-zero permeability of biofilms structures is enabled. A systematic study is then conducted into the influence of biofilm permeability on overall biomass growth rate. This reveals a significant influence at large biofilm concentrations; even when the permeability of the biomass is 1.25% of that of the free pore space, biomass accumulation increased by a factor of ∼3 over 40 h. The effect is shown to be retained when allowing for biomass detachment or erosion as a consequence of adjacent velocity shear. We conclude that biofilm permeability should be included in biofilm models and that further experimental work is required to better describe the link between biofilm permeability and local microstructure.
成功地修改了适用于复杂多孔介质支撑结构的 3D 生物膜模型，使生物膜结构具有非零渗透率。然后，系统地研究了生物膜渗透率对总生物量生长速率的影响。这表明在大的生物膜浓度下有显著的影响；即使生物膜的渗透率仅为自由孔隙空间的 1.25%，在 40 小时内生物量的积累增加了约 3 倍。当考虑到由于相邻速度剪切而导致的生物量脱落或侵蚀时，这种效果仍然保留。我们得出结论，生物膜渗透率应包含在生物膜模型中，并且需要进一步的实验工作来更好地描述生物膜渗透率和局部微观结构之间的联系。
