Biofilm Streamer Formation in a Microfluidic Porous Media Mimic

Several bacterial species possess the ability to attach to surfaces and colonize themselves in thin films called biofilms. Biofilms that grow in porous media are relevant to several industrial and environmental processes such as wastewater treatment and CO2 sequestration. We used Pseudomonas fluorescens, a gram negative aerobic biofilm forming bacteria, to investigate biofilm formation in a microfluidic porous media mimic device. The microfluidic device consists of an array of micro-posts, which were fabricated using soft-lithography. Subsequently, biofilm formation in this device was investigated as a function of time and the formation of filamentous biofilms known as streamers was observed. Furthermore, we used computational fluid mechanics simulation to better understanding of the streamer formation.© 2014 ASME