A Modeling and Simulation Study of the Role of Suspended Microbial Populations in Nitrification in a Biofilm Reactor.
(2014) In Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 76(1). p.27-58- Abstract
- Many biological wastewater treatment processes are based on bacterial biofilms, i.e. layered aggregates of microbial populations deposited on surfaces. Detachment and (re-)attachment leads to an exchange of biomass between the biofilm and the surrounding aqueous phase. Traditionally, mathematical models of biofilm processes do not take the contribution of the suspended, non-attached bacteria into account, implicitly assuming that these are negligible due to the relatively small amount of suspended biomass compared to biofilm biomass. In this paper, we present a model for a nitrifying biofilm reactor that explicitly includes both types of biomass. The model is derived by coupling a reactor mass balance for suspended populations and... (More)
- Many biological wastewater treatment processes are based on bacterial biofilms, i.e. layered aggregates of microbial populations deposited on surfaces. Detachment and (re-)attachment leads to an exchange of biomass between the biofilm and the surrounding aqueous phase. Traditionally, mathematical models of biofilm processes do not take the contribution of the suspended, non-attached bacteria into account, implicitly assuming that these are negligible due to the relatively small amount of suspended biomass compared to biofilm biomass. In this paper, we present a model for a nitrifying biofilm reactor that explicitly includes both types of biomass. The model is derived by coupling a reactor mass balance for suspended populations and substrates with a full one-dimensional Wanner-Gujer type biofilm model. The complexity of this model, both with respect to mathematical structure and number of parameters, prevents a rigorous analysis of its dynamics, wherefore we study the model numerically.Our investigations show that suspended biomass needs to be considered explicitly in the model if the interests of the study are the details of the nitrification process and its intermediate steps and compounds. However, suspended biomass may be neglected if the primary interests are the overall reactor performance criteria, such as removal rates. Furthermore, it can be expected that changes in the biofilm area, attachment, detachment, and dilution rates are more likely to affect the variables primarily associated with the second step of nitrification, while the variables associated with the first step tend to be more robust. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4225235
- author
- Masic, Alma LU and Eberl, Hermann J
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Biofilm, Mathematical model, Nitrification, Suspended biomass
- in
- Bulletin of Mathematical Biology
- volume
- 76
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 27 - 58
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000329629000002
- pmid:24307083
- pmid:24307083
- scopus:84888802058
- ISSN
- 1522-9602
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11538-013-9898-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b4863bd6-44fe-4bca-9035-f51f8e267fa0 (old id 4225235)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:21:55
- date last changed
- 2022-04-27 21:24:01
@article{b4863bd6-44fe-4bca-9035-f51f8e267fa0,
abstract = {{Many biological wastewater treatment processes are based on bacterial biofilms, i.e. layered aggregates of microbial populations deposited on surfaces. Detachment and (re-)attachment leads to an exchange of biomass between the biofilm and the surrounding aqueous phase. Traditionally, mathematical models of biofilm processes do not take the contribution of the suspended, non-attached bacteria into account, implicitly assuming that these are negligible due to the relatively small amount of suspended biomass compared to biofilm biomass. In this paper, we present a model for a nitrifying biofilm reactor that explicitly includes both types of biomass. The model is derived by coupling a reactor mass balance for suspended populations and substrates with a full one-dimensional Wanner-Gujer type biofilm model. The complexity of this model, both with respect to mathematical structure and number of parameters, prevents a rigorous analysis of its dynamics, wherefore we study the model numerically.Our investigations show that suspended biomass needs to be considered explicitly in the model if the interests of the study are the details of the nitrification process and its intermediate steps and compounds. However, suspended biomass may be neglected if the primary interests are the overall reactor performance criteria, such as removal rates. Furthermore, it can be expected that changes in the biofilm area, attachment, detachment, and dilution rates are more likely to affect the variables primarily associated with the second step of nitrification, while the variables associated with the first step tend to be more robust.}},
author = {{Masic, Alma and Eberl, Hermann J}},
issn = {{1522-9602}},
keywords = {{Biofilm; Mathematical model; Nitrification; Suspended biomass}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{27--58}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Bulletin of Mathematical Biology}},
title = {{A Modeling and Simulation Study of the Role of Suspended Microbial Populations in Nitrification in a Biofilm Reactor.}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11538-013-9898-2}},
doi = {{10.1007/s11538-013-9898-2}},
volume = {{76}},
year = {{2014}},
}