Substrate Affinity of Oligotrophic Bacteria in Biofilm Reactors

Several biofilm reactors were operated to investigate the substrate affinity of oligotrophic bacteria in the biofilm reactor. The attached oligotrophs were removed from reactors, and substrate affinity was determined in dispersed form. The saturation constant (Ks) of attached oligotrophs for acetate was less than 10 µg-C/l. The apparent Ks (Ksa) values of reactors were also determined to evaluate the performance of reactors,and the effect of specific surface area of packed media on Ksa was investigated at a loading of 0.006 mg-C per cm³-apparent media volume per hour. Larger specific surface area led to smaller Ksa, and 6.9 µg-C/l of Ksa for acetate was obtained with the media having 340 cm² -surface area per cm -apparent media volume of specific surface area. The bacterial flora in the oligotrophic biofilm was examined, and Pseudomonas was found to be dominant.