Attached-growth process engineering in wastewater treatment

In view of the importance of biological treatment, it is the purpose of thi s work to present an overview of attached-growth biological wastewater trea tment, considering the active role the engineers have to play in this field . This paper brings together conventional and advanced problems in the fiel d of aerobic attached-growth (biofilm) wastewater treatment. Such an overvi ew of biological wastewater treatment also precedes comments on some import ant aspects concerning the microorganisms responsible for wastewater treatm ent as well as considerations on the key factors governing the kinetic of t he biological growth and waste treatment, together with application of fund amentals and kinetics to the analysis of these biological processes. A surv ey of the development of the attached-growth process and some modifications are given. These include additional details on the bioreactor progress and applications. Finally, some aspects regarding process intensification and bioreactor improvement were included.