A Forensic Approach Towards Biofilm Management

沃克尔1437860A生物膜管理的法医方法膜正在成为水和废水处理中许多应用的首选技术之一。然而，随着时间的推移，生物膜(生物膜)的形成会降低膜的吞吐量或处理效率，膜会受到影响。几十年来，耐生物膜表面的开发一直是一个持续的研究目标，多种策略的尝试都取得了不同程度的成功。然而，到目前为止，还没有真正的抗生物膜材料可以在商业上获得。事实上，该领域的许多专家都不再认为，甚至可以存在真正耐生物膜的表面，相反，需要制定更好的生物膜管理实践。目前的生物膜管理做法依赖于并非专门为特定生物膜量身定做的化学清洗剂，因此，清洁战略往往依赖于一个旨在测试“什么有效”的迭代过程。该项目将探索为特定的生物膜和收集器表面属性量身定做化学清洗战略，目的是将生物膜管理做法从反复试验的过程转变为一种科学的活动，这种活动依赖于对个别生物膜成分、收集器表面性质和不同清洗剂之间的关系的深入了解。该项目将提高对生物膜清洗方法的理解，并研究微生物生物膜的不同元素、收集器表面属性和不同清洗剂之间的基本相互作用，以期制定变革性的生物膜管理做法。这项拟议工作的外联部分力求将研究和教育结合起来。具体地说，PIs建议通过暑期实习让河滨社区学院的退伍军人参与令人兴奋的环境科学和工程世界。这些实习将提供体验式学习机会，以激励和告知退伍军人在环境工程方面的机会。在暑期实习结束时，Riverside社区学院的学生将在加州大学河滨分校、本科生夏季研究研讨会和RCC展示他们的工作。该项目的具体目标是：1)确定代表性清洗剂对单个生物膜成分的影响；2)评估收集器表面特征和单个生物膜成分之间的相互作用；3)确定微生物清洗后生物膜残留成分对再污染潜力的影响；以及4)优化微生物管理实践。这些目标将通过细菌和表面分析技术的组合来实现，包括平行平板流动腔、共聚焦显微镜和阻抗光谱分析。预计该项目将产生下列成果：1)了解特定清洗剂和微生物生物膜个别成分之间的相互作用，有助于设计更有效的微生物污染表面清洗策略，如水处理膜；2)更好地了解表面性质和个别生物膜成分之间的基本关系，这将为生物膜等易被生物膜表面的工程提供信息；3)了解残留生物膜成分对收集器表面再污染的影响；4)基于对生物污染属性的法医调查，制定变革性的生物膜管理战略，并针对具体的生物膜成分进行优化。预期结果可应用于生物污染是主要问题的多种情况，提高热交换器和基于膜的水处理过程等重要工业过程的效率。

Walker1437860A Forensic Approach Towards Biofilm ManagementMembranes are becoming one of the technologies of choice for many applications in water and wastewater treatment. However, membranes suffer from the formation of a biological film (biofilm) that over time decreases their throughput or treatment efficiency. The development of biofilm resistant surfaces has been an ongoing research objective for several decades, with multiple strategies attempted with varying degrees of success. However, to date, no truly biofilm resistant materials are commercially available. In fact, many experts in the field are moving away from the notion that truly biofilm resistant surfaces can even exist, and instead, better biofilm management practices need to be developed. Current biofilm management practices rely on chemical cleaning agents not specifically tailored for a given biofilm, and therefore, cleaning strategies often rely on an iterative process designed to test "what works". This project will explore the tailoring of chemical cleaning strategies to specific biofilm and collector surface attributes, with the purpose of transforming biofilm management practices from a trial-and-error process to a scientifically grounded activity that relies on deep understanding of the relationship between individual biofilm components, collector surface properties, and different cleaning agents. This project will improve the understanding of biofilm cleaning methods and study the fundamental interactions between different elements of a microbial biofilm, collector surface properties, and different cleaning agents with the goal of developing transformative biofilm management practices. The outreach portion of this proposed work seeks to integrate research and education. Specifically, the PIs propose engaging veterans at Riverside Community College in the exciting world of environmental science and engineering through summer internships. These internships will provide experiential learning opportunities to both motivate and inform the veterans in the opportunities in environmental engineering. At the end of the summer internship, the Riverside Community College students will present their work at the University of California Riverside, Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium and at RCC.The specific objectives of the project are: 1) determination of the impact of representative cleaning agents on individual biofilm components; 2) evaluation of the interactions between collector surface characteristics and individual biofilm components; 3) determination of the impact of residual components of biofilms after microbial cleaning on re-fouling potential; and 4) optimization of microbial management practices. These objectives will be met with a combination of bacterial and surficial analysis techniques including a parallel plate flow chamber, confocal microscopy, and impedance spectroscopy. It is expected that this project will produce the following outcomes: 1) an understanding of the interactions between specific cleaning agents and individual components of a microbial biofilm that will aid in the design of more efficient cleaning strategies for microbially fouled surfaces, such as water treatment membranes; 2) a better understanding of the fundamental relationship between surface properties and individual biofilm components that will inform the engineering of biofilm-prone surfaces, such as membranes; 3) an understanding of the impact of residual biofilm components on the re-fouling of collector surfaces; and 4) a transformative biofilm management strategy based on the forensic investigation of biofouled properties coupled with a tailored cleaning approach optimized to specific biofilm compositions. The expected outcomes can be applied in multiple situations where biofouling is a major concern, enhancing the efficiency of important industrial processes such as heat exchangers and membrane-based water treatment processes.