Influence of detachment,substrate loading and reactor scale on the formation of biofilms in airlift reactors |
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Authors: | L Tijhuis B Hijman M C M Van Loosdrecht J J Heijnen |
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Institution: | (1) Kluyver Laboratory for Biotechnology, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 67, NL-2628 BC Delft, The Netherlands. Fax: 31 15 782355 E-MAIL:MARK.VL@STN. TUDELFT.NL, NL |
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Abstract: | For a stable and reliable operation of the biofilm airlift suspension reactor (BAS reactor) means to control biomass concentration,
biofilm thickness and biofilm morphology are required. For this reason, the influence of applied detachment forces and surface
substrate loading on the formation of heterotrophic biofilms in laboratory-scale BAS reactors was studied. Detachment forces
were altered by variation of the initial bare carrier concentration or the superficial air velocity. In addition, the dynamics
of biofilm formation during start-up of a full scale BAS reactor (300 m3) was monitored and compared with the laboratory-scale start-up (3 l). This study shows that the biofilm morphology and strength
were influenced to a large extent by the surface substrate loading and applied detachment forces. A moderate surface substrate
loading and a high detachment force yielded smooth and strong biofilms. The combination of a high surface substrate loading
and low detachment forces did lead to rough biofilms, but did not lead to the expected high amount of biomass on the carrier,
apparently because of the formation of weaker biofilms. The strength of the bio-films appeared to be related to the detachment
forces applied during biofilm formation, in combination with the surface substrate loading. The biofilm morphology and biomass
on carrier in the BAS reactor can be controlled using the carrier concentration, substrate loading rate and the superficial
air velocity as parameters. The dynamics of biofilm formation during the start-up of a full-scale BAS reactor proved to be
similar to heterotrophic biofilm formation in laboratory-scale reactors. This indicates that a model system on the laboratory
scale can successfully be applied to predict dynamic phenomena in the full-scale reactor.
Received: 31 March 1995/Received revision: 11 August 1995/Accepted: 22 August 1995 |
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