Surface properties of membrane materials and their role in cell adhesion and biofilm formation of microalgae

Abstract

In this study, the effects of surface properties of membrane materials on microalgae cell adhesion and biofilm formation were investigated using Chlorella vulgaris and five different types of membrane materials under hydrodynamic conditions. The results suggest that the contact angle (hydrophobicity), surface free energy, and free energy of cohesion of membrane materials alone could not sufficiently elucidate the selectivity of microalgae cell adhesion and biofilm formation on membrane materials surfaces, and membrane surface roughness played a dominant role in controlling biofilm formation rate, under tested hydrodynamic conditions. A lower level of biofilm EPS production was generally associated with a larger amount of biofilm formation. The zeta potential of membrane materials could enhance initial microalgae cell adhesion and biofilm formation through salt bridging or charge neutralization mechanisms.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Membrane biofilm reactor
• microalgal biofilm
• membrane material
• membrane surface properties

Acknowledgement

Supplemental Figure S1 and part of Figure 4 were presented in a short poster presented in The Biofilm 10 Conference, Leipzig, Germany, May 9-11, 2022.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The funding support for this work was provided by NSERC Discovery Grants (Baoqiang Liao and Pedram Fatehi); Canada Foundation for Innovation Fund and Canada Research Chairs programs (Pedram Fatehi).