Biofilm Processes

Dear Colleagues,

Biofilm reactors have been commercially used in the water/wastewater treatment [1] and micropollutant removal [2]. However, new opportunities are arising with the rapid expansion of our understanding of biofilm engineering and biology over the last ten years. Biofilms show promise for sustainable chemical production [3], because of the high biomass concentration and the separation of microbial catalyst from the process stream. Furthermore, biofilms tolerate high concentrations of toxic products, thus, simplifying downstream separation processes [4,5]. Emerging processes for bioenergy and biofuel production can also be implemented in biofilm reactors, with a significant increase of the output per unit of reactor volume [6]. This Special Issue will include innovative research on biofilm processes for wastewater treatment, bioremediation and production purposes.

Guide:

This Special Issue will cover the most recent advances in biofilm processes, with particular regards to:

1) Fundamental and theory of biofilm processes, e.g., biofilm catalysis, novel bioreactor, modelling, simulation pilot scale, and full-scale applications.

2) Pilot-scale applications and long-term process data analysis

3) Full-scale implementation for production purposes.

This issue is not restricted to a particular kind of biofilm or process or reactor. Submission of innovative processes and bioreactor concepts is highly encouraged.

References

1. Syron E, Casey, E. Membrane-aerated biofilms for high rate biotreatment: Performance appraisal, engineering principles, scale-up, and development requirements. Environ. Sci. Technol.2008, 42, 1833–1844.
2. Grandclement C, Seyssiecq I, Piram A, Wong-Wah-Chung P, Vanot G, Tiliacos N, Roche N, Doumenq P. From the conventional biological wastewater treatment to hybrid processes, the evaluation of organic micropollutant removal: A review. Water Res. 2017, 111, 297–317.
3. Willrodt C, Halan B, Karthaus L, Rehdorf Mattijs J, Julsing K, Buehler K, Schmid A. Continuous multistep synthesis of perillic acid from limonene by catalytic biofilms under segmented flow. Biotechnol. & Bioeng. 2017, 114, 281-290.
4. Rosche, B.; Zhong, L.X.; Hauer, B.; Schmid, A.; Buehler, K. Microbial biofilms: a concept for industrial catalysis? Trends Biotechnol. 2009, 27, 636–643.
5. Jiang L, Song X, Li Y, Xu Q, Pu J, Huang H, Zhong C. Programming integrative extracellular and intracellular biocatalysis for rapid, robust, and recyclable synthesis of trehalose. ACS Catalysis 2018, 8, 1837-1842.
6. Rabaey, K.; Rozendal, R.A. Microbial electrosynthesis—Revisiting the electrical route for microbial production. Nat. Rev. Microbiol.2010, 8, 706–716.

Dr. Enrico Marsili
Dr. Michael Kitching
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• biofilms
• green biotechnology
• bioremediation
• biofilm reactors
• bioprocesses
• bioenergy