A simple model of biofilm growth in a porous medium that accounts for detachment and attachment of suspended biomass and their contribution to substrate degradation

Abstract

We derive a macroscopic model for biofilm formation in a porous medium reactor to investigate the role of suspended bacteria on reactor performance. The starting point is the mesoscopic one-dimensional Wanner–Gujer biofilm model. The following processes are included: hydrodynamics and transport of substrate in the reactor, biofilm and suspended bacteria growth in the pore space, attachment of suspended cells to the biofilm, and detachment of biofilm cells. The mesoscopic equations are up-scaled from the biofilm scale to the reactor scale, yielding a stiff system of balance laws, which we study numerically. We find that suspended bacteria and attachment can have a significant effect on biofilm reactor performance.