Stratification and Oxidation - Reduction Potential Change in an Aerobic and Sulfate-Reducing Biofilm Studied Using Microelectrodes

摘要

Recent studies in aerobic - nitrifying biofilms demonstrated the heterogeneity of biofilms used in wastewater treatment and led to modifications of the homogeneous assumption in the conventional biofilm kinetic models. However, the stratification in aerobic-anaerobic biofilms has not been well investigated because of a lack of effective experimental tools. In this study a suite of microelectrodes, recently developed in the authors' laboratory, was used to examine the stratification of microbial processes and the change of oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) within an aerobic, sulfate-reducing biofilm.