LEPABE, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
LEPABE, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal; CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
Water Res. 2014 Oct 1;62:63-87. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.05.039. Epub 2014 Jun 3.
The development of biofilms in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) can cause pipe degradation, changes in the water organoleptic properties but the main problem is related to the public health. Biofilms are the main responsible for the microbial presence in drinking water (DW) and can be reservoirs for pathogens. Therefore, the understanding of the mechanisms underlying biofilm formation and behavior is of utmost importance in order to create effective control strategies. As the study of biofilms in real DWDS is difficult, several devices have been developed. These devices allow biofilm formation under controlled conditions of physical (flow velocity, shear stress, temperature, type of pipe material, etc), chemical (type and amount of nutrients, type of disinfectant and residuals, organic and inorganic particles, ions, etc) and biological (composition of microbial community - type of microorganism and characteristics) parameters, ensuring that the operational conditions are similar as possible to the DWDS conditions in order to achieve results that can be applied to the real scenarios. The devices used in DW biofilm studies can be divided essentially in two groups, those usually applied in situ and the bench top laboratorial reactors. The selection of a device should be obviously in accordance with the aim of the study and its advantages and limitations should be evaluated to obtain reproducible results that can be transposed into the reality of the DWDS. The aim of this review is to provide an overview on the main reactors used in DW biofilm studies, describing their characteristics and applications, taking into account their main advantages and limitations.
饮用水分配系统（DWDS）中生物膜的发展会导致管道退化、水质感官性质发生变化，但主要问题与公众健康有关。生物膜是饮用水（DW）中微生物存在的主要原因，并且可能是病原体的储库。因此，了解生物膜形成和行为的机制对于创建有效的控制策略至关重要。由于在实际 DWDS 中研究生物膜具有一定难度，因此已经开发出了几种设备。这些设备可以在物理（流速、剪切力、温度、管道材料类型等）、化学（营养物质的类型和数量、消毒剂和残留物质的类型、有机和无机颗粒、离子等）和生物（微生物群落的组成-微生物类型和特征）参数的控制条件下促进生物膜的形成，确保操作条件尽可能与 DWDS 条件相似，以获得可应用于实际情况的结果。在 DW 生物膜研究中使用的设备基本上可以分为两组，即通常原位应用的设备和实验室台式反应器。设备的选择显然应根据研究目的，并评估其优缺点，以获得可重复的结果，从而将其转化为 DWDS 的实际情况。本综述的目的是概述 DW 生物膜研究中使用的主要反应器，描述其特点和应用，同时考虑其主要优缺点。
