Biofouling In Cooling Water Systems Influencing Factors

The mechanism of biofouling formation on solid surfaces and current research work about biofouling were summarized first in this paper. Then, the fouling process of Pseudomonas fluorescens on solid surfaces in the simulated cooling water system was investigated. The evolution curves of biofouling were obtained by way of diameter measure and weighting, arid the dynamic behavior of biofouling was recorded by means of microvideo technology. The results provide the data and image materials for the fouling prevention and mitigation in the realistic production.Moreover, the fouling processes of microbes on different material surfaces were investigated experimentally and analyzed theoretically. The surface roughness, contact angle, surface free energy of solid materials and interfacial energy between solid material and liquid, interfacial energy between solid material and biofouling were identified. The effects of all these parameters on the biofouling formation were studied emphatically. The results show that the larger the surface roughness is, the easier the material surface is to be colonized. There is a preferable value of interfacial energy between solid material and biofouling for biofouling formation. At the same time, the SEM micrographs of biofouling on different material surfaces were analyzed theoretically.Finally, the comprehensive evaluation and prediction model of fuzzy mathematics was built. The induction period and average biofouling mass on different materials were calculated according to the chemical compositions of solid materials and flow velocity. The model can evaluate and predict the biofouling development well.