Title: Comparison of Biofilm Formation Under Shear Stress Using Different Reactor Systems
Authors: Hideyuki Kanematsu, Risa Kawai, Michiko Yoshitake, Takayoshi Nakano
Abstract:
In this study, two types of cylindrical laboratory-scale biofilm reactors that provide different shear-flow environments were employed.
In Reactor A, test coupons are mounted on the inner wall of a vertical cylinder, and a bacterial suspension is continuously supplied from the bottom to the top in a direction parallel to the coupon surface, thereby generating a laminar shear field along the surface.
In Reactor B, a cylinder of the same geometry is placed horizontally and rotated, which applies a circumferential shear field to the test coupons attached to its interior.
Both reactors are operated under controlled flow rate and nutrient conditions, and biofilm formation is evaluated via visual inspection, microscopic observation, and stained-image analysis in accordance with ISO 4768 (2023).
Particleworks (Prometech Software Co., Ltd.), we performed numerical analysis of the shear-stress distributions acting on biofilms formed under parallel-flow and circumferential-flow conditions. We then calculated the shear-stress distribution for a tank-type reactor planned for future fabrication.
Based on these results, we examined the operating conditions under which a reactor with circumferential flow can reproduce shear-stress levels comparable to those in an upward-flow vertical reactor.
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