A Forensic Approach Towards Biofilm Management

University Of California-Riverside, Riverside CA

Investigators

Abstract

Walker 1437860 A Forensic Approach Towards Biofilm Management Membranes are becoming one of the technologies of choice for many applications in water and wastewater treatment. However, membranes suffer from the formation of a biological film (biofilm) that over time decreases their throughput or treatment efficiency. The development of biofilm resistant surfaces has been an ongoing research objective for several decades, with multiple strategies attempted with varying degrees of success. However, to date, no truly biofilm resistant materials are commercially available. In fact, many experts in the field are moving away from the notion that truly biofilm resistant surfaces can even exist, and instead, better biofilm management practices need to be developed. Current biofilm management practices rely on chemical cleaning agents not specifically tailored for a given biofilm, and therefore, cleaning strategies often rely on an iterative process designed to test "what works". This project will explore the tailoring of chemical cleaning strategies to specific biofilm and collector surface attributes, with the purpose of transforming biofilm management practices from a trial-and-error process to a scientifically grounded activity that relies on deep understanding of the relationship between individual biofilm components, collector surface properties, and different cleaning agents. This project will improve the understanding of biofilm cleaning methods and study the fundamental interactions between different elements of a microbial biofilm, collector surface properties, and different cleaning agents with the goal of developing transformative biofilm management practices. The outreach portion of this proposed work seeks to integrate research and education. Specifically, the PIs propose engaging veterans at Riverside Community College in the exciting world of environmental science and engineering through summer internships. These internships will provide experiential learning opportunities to both motivate and inform the veterans in the opportunities in environmental engineering. At the end of the summer internship, the Riverside Community College students will present their work at the University of California Riverside, Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium and at RCC. The specific objectives of the project are: 1) determination of the impact of representative cleaning agents on individual biofilm components; 2) evaluation of the interactions between collector surface characteristics and individual biofilm components; 3) determination of the impact of residual components of biofilms after microbial cleaning on re-fouling potential; and 4) optimization of microbial management practices. These objectives will be met with a combination of bacterial and surficial analysis techniques including a parallel plate flow chamber, confocal microscopy, and impedance spectroscopy. It is expected that this project will produce the following outcomes: 1) an understanding of the interactions between specific cleaning agents and individual components of a microbial biofilm that will aid in the design of more efficient cleaning strategies for microbially fouled surfaces, such as water treatment membranes; 2) a better understanding of the fundamental relationship between surface properties and individual biofilm components that will inform the engineering of biofilm-prone surfaces, such as membranes; 3) an understanding of the impact of residual biofilm components on the re-fouling of collector surfaces; and 4) a transformative biofilm management strategy based on the forensic investigation of biofouled properties coupled with a tailored cleaning approach optimized to specific biofilm compositions. The expected outcomes can be applied in multiple situations where biofouling is a major concern, enhancing the efficiency of important industrial processes such as heat exchangers and membrane-based water treatment processes.