Summary

It is widely understood that biofouling is an obstacle to water treatment processes, therefore, tailored cleaning strategies are needed to increase removal efficiency. This research inquired into the swelling behaviour at the equilibrium states of target biofilm models made from alginate -like exopolymers (ALE) in laboratory condition.
At this moment the density of biofilm was introduced to profile it's binding strength. At ALE biofilm model’s equilibrium state, the density will be illustrated by its swelling height over time, the amount of organic and inorganic materials within the biofilm model, and the cake - layer resistance.
This research observed and suggested that 3mM calcium ion concentration within feed solution is the threshold to control ALE biofilm models’ density.