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Evaluation of Biofilm Development on Different Carrier Materials using Biofilm-forming Bacteria

Author : Berris, Jaymie Bertumen
Major Adviser : Bambase Jr., Manolito E.
Committee Members : Alfafara, Catalino G.; Demafelis, Rex B.; Escobar, Erwin C.
Year : 2013
Month : October
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
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Abstract

Bioremediation is one of the applications of biofilm. This process uses microorganism to reduce environmental contaminants. The objective of the study was to test different carrier materials that would be appropriate for the biofilm development of copper-tolerant bacteria, specifically Bacillus sp. The carriers tested were roughened PVC, ceramic rings and sponges. In the experiment, a two-stage serial inoculation was performed to build the biomass. Each stage observed an incubation period of 24 hours at room temperature and the nutrient medium used was tryptic soy broth (TSB) with a formulation of 30 g/L. Five days of incubation was allotted for the development of biofilm which formed a white layer of film at the air-liquid interface. The average percent copper reduction, in descending order, were (27.06 ± 0.22) %, (16.02 ± 0.18) % and (11.17 ± 0.12) % for ceramic rings, roughened PVC and sponge, respectively. Among the carriers tested, sponge developed the thickest biofilm and ceramic rings yielded the highest average percentage copper reduction. On the level of submersion, the results were (26.03 ± 0.18) % and (27.06 ± 0.28) % copper reduction for 1BH and 2BH, respectively. However, these results of the experiment yielded insignificant differences between the biofilm-carrier setups tested as well as the level of submersion tested.

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