INTEGRATED APPROACH FOR BIOFILM CHARACTERIZATION AND BIOMASS ACTIVITYCONTROL

Biofilm activity control is an important requirement for the successfu l operation of biofilm reactors for wastewater treatment. Widely used parameters for biofilm characterisation are the biofilm thickness and total dry weight. These characteristics are, however, not sufficient t o describe biofilm activity. Understanding of the physiological behavi our of the fixed biomass needs improved analytical methods and procedu res. Direct application of known methods for free biomass characterisa tion to biofilm analysis is not always possible and is not well studie d and developed. In this paper an integrated approach is proposed for representative estimation of biofilm activity, by means of appropriate analytical methods to control biofilm dynamics and wastewater treatme nt process performance. The relevance of this approach is tested using different nitrifying biofilms.