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Biofilm formation in attached microalgal reactors

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the fundamental question of biofilm formation. First, a drum biofilm reactor was introduced. The drums were coated with three porous substrates (cotton rope, canvas, and spandex), respectively. The relationships among the substrate, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and adhesion ratio were analyzed. Second, a plate biofilm reactor (PBR) was applied by replacing the drum with multiple parallel vertical plates to increase the surface area. The plates were coated with porous substrates on each side, and the nutrients were delivered to the cells by diffusion. The influence of nitrogen source and concentration on compositions of EPS and biofilm formation was analyzed using PBR under sunlight. The results indicated that both substrate and nitrogen were critical on the EPS compositions and biofilm formation. Under the optimal condition (glycine with concentration of 1 g l−1 and substrate of canvas), the maximum biofilm productivity of 54.46 g m−2 d−1 with adhesion ratio of 84.4 % was achieved.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by Fuzhou Administration of Science and Technology (No. 2014-G-60 and No. 2015-G-73), and “863” Project (No. 2012AA021704).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350108, China

    Y. Shen, W. Zhu & C. Chen

  2. Fujian Institute of Microbiology, Fuzhou, 350007, China

    Y. Nie

  3. College of Biological Science and Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350108, China

    X. Lin

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  1. Y. Shen
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  2. W. Zhu
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  3. C. Chen
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  4. Y. Nie
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Correspondence to Y. Shen.

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Shen, Y., Zhu, W., Chen, C. et al. Biofilm formation in attached microalgal reactors. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 39, 1281–1288 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-016-1606-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-016-1606-9

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