ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the majority of the methods that were developed for research concerned primarily with biofilm development in relation to fouling. It reviews some laboratory systems and methods for measuring biofilm parameters in the laboratory and in the field. Model reactor systems have been used in the laboratory and in the field to investigate microbial film accumulation. The annular reactor is potentially an excellent method for monitoring biofilm development because of its sensitivity, particularly to changes in fluid frictional resistance. The torque transducer provides a continuous indicator of biofilm accumulation, thus permitting rather effortless, though indirect, observation of biofilm behavior. Biofilm thickness has also been determined using various methods which locate the biofilm-fluid interface and the biofilm-substratum interface. M. G. Trulear and W. G. Characklis used an optical microscope method to determine biofilm thickness in the annular reactor. In biofilm research, substrate removal can be reported as substrate mass removed per unit biofilm area and per unit biofilm volume.
