Biofilm-flow interactions in aquatic environments

• Main Author: Zhou, Qianru
• Other Authors: Cheng Niansheng
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68303
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In this project, a flume system was designed and constructed to simulate a river system and experiments were performed to study the interaction between sediment microorganisms aquatic system, particularly how different flow rates will influence the development pattern of sediment biofilms in this project. Comparison for both sediment biofilms and suspended biofilms were studied between two different flow rates. It was observed that the number of cultivable microorganism attached to the surface of the sediment in the flume with higher flow rates reached the maximum amount in a shorter time (around 2 weeks) while the flume with lower flow rate took a longer time to reach its maximum amount (around 8 weeks) . Moreover, the amount of cultivable microorganisms stayed relatively constant for roughly 6 weeks after it reached the maximum amount. While the number for the flume with lower flow rate started to decrease immediately after the maximum number was reached. In addition, the flume with lower flow rate showed a much more rapid decreasing rate after the maximum number, thus both flumes had roughly same number of microorganisms at the end the week 10. For the suspended microorganisms’ counts, both flumes showed similar growth patterns with roughly same maximum number. However, the flume with lower flow rate had a slower decreasing rate compared to the flume with higher flow rate after the maximum number was reached.