TY - JOUR
T1 - Water quality and daily temperature cycle affect biofilm formation in drip irrigation devices revealed by optical coherence tomography
AU - Qian, Jueying
AU - Horn, Harald
AU - Tarchitzky, Jorge
AU - Chen, Yona
AU - Katz, Sagi
AU - Wagner, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2017/3/16
Y1 - 2017/3/16
N2 - Drip irrigation is a water-saving technology. To date, little is known about how biofilm forms in drippers of irrigation systems. In this study, the internal dripper geometry was recreated in 3-D printed microfluidic devices (MFDs). To mimic the temperature conditions in (semi-) arid areas, experiments were conducted in a temperature controlled box between 20 and 50°C. MFDs were either fed with two different treated wastewater (TWW) or synthetic wastewater. Biofilm formation was monitored non-invasively and in situ by optical coherence tomography (OCT). 3-D OCT datasets reveal the major fouling position and illustrate that biofilm development was influenced by fluid dynamics. Biofilm volumetric coverage of the labyrinth up to 60% did not reduce the discharge rate, whereas a further increase to 80% reduced the discharge rate by 50%. Moreover, the biofilm formation rate was significantly inhibited in daily temperature cycle independent of the cultivation medium used.
AB - Drip irrigation is a water-saving technology. To date, little is known about how biofilm forms in drippers of irrigation systems. In this study, the internal dripper geometry was recreated in 3-D printed microfluidic devices (MFDs). To mimic the temperature conditions in (semi-) arid areas, experiments were conducted in a temperature controlled box between 20 and 50°C. MFDs were either fed with two different treated wastewater (TWW) or synthetic wastewater. Biofilm formation was monitored non-invasively and in situ by optical coherence tomography (OCT). 3-D OCT datasets reveal the major fouling position and illustrate that biofilm development was influenced by fluid dynamics. Biofilm volumetric coverage of the labyrinth up to 60% did not reduce the discharge rate, whereas a further increase to 80% reduced the discharge rate by 50%. Moreover, the biofilm formation rate was significantly inhibited in daily temperature cycle independent of the cultivation medium used.
KW - biofilm formation
KW - daily temperature cycle
KW - Drip irrigation
KW - microfluidic devices
KW - optical coherence tomography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85012254495&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/08927014.2017.1285017
DO - 10.1080/08927014.2017.1285017
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C2 - 28270050
AN - SCOPUS:85012254495
SN - 0892-7014
VL - 33
SP - 211
EP - 221
JO - Biofouling
JF - Biofouling
IS - 3
ER -