Attached-growth process engineering in wastewater treatment

In view of the importance of biological treatment, it is the purpose of this work to present an overview of attached-growth biological wastewater treatment, considering the active role the engineers have to play in this field. This paper brings together conventional and advanced problems in the field of aerobic attached-growth (biofilm) wastewater treatment. Such an overview of biological wastewater treatment also precedes comments on some important aspects concerning the microorganisms responsible for wastewater treatment as well as considerations on the key factors governing the kinetic of the biological growth and waste treatment, together with application of fundamentals and kinetics to the analysis of these biological processes. A survey of the development of the attached-growth process and some modifications are given. These include additional details on the bioreactor progress and applications. Finally, some aspects regarding process intensification and bioreactor improvement were included.