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Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows

Bioaggregates are condensed porous materials comprising microbes, organic and inorganic matters, and water. They are commonly found in natural and engineered porous media and often cause clogging. Despite their importance, the formation mechanism of bioaggregates in porous media systems is largely u...

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Autores principales: Lee, Sang Hyun, Secchi, Eleonora, Kang, Peter K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10083537/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36989304
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204466120
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author Lee, Sang Hyun
Secchi, Eleonora
Kang, Peter K.
author_facet Lee, Sang Hyun
Secchi, Eleonora
Kang, Peter K.
author_sort Lee, Sang Hyun
collection PubMed
description Bioaggregates are condensed porous materials comprising microbes, organic and inorganic matters, and water. They are commonly found in natural and engineered porous media and often cause clogging. Despite their importance, the formation mechanism of bioaggregates in porous media systems is largely unknown. Through microfluidic experiments and direct numerical simulations of fluid flow, we show that the rapid bioaggregation is driven by the interplay of the viscoelastic nature of biomass and hydrodynamic conditions at pore throats. At an early stage, unique flow structures around a pore throat promote the biomass attachment at the throat. Then, the attached biomass fluidizes when the shear stress at the partially clogged pore throat reaches a critical value. After the fluidization, the biomass is displaced and accumulated in the expansion region of throats forming bioaggregates. We further find that such criticality in shear stress triggers morphological changes in bioaggregates from rounded- to streamer-like shapes. This knowledge was used to control the clogging of throats by tuning the flow conditions: When the shear stress at the throat exceeded the critical value, clogging was prevented. The bioaggregation process did not depend on the detailed pore-throat geometry, as we reproduced the same dynamics in various pore-throat geometries. This study demonstrates that pore-throat structures, which are ubiquitous in porous media systems, induce bioaggregation and can lead to abrupt disruptions in flow.
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spelling pubmed-100835372023-09-29 Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows Lee, Sang Hyun Secchi, Eleonora Kang, Peter K. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Physical Sciences Bioaggregates are condensed porous materials comprising microbes, organic and inorganic matters, and water. They are commonly found in natural and engineered porous media and often cause clogging. Despite their importance, the formation mechanism of bioaggregates in porous media systems is largely unknown. Through microfluidic experiments and direct numerical simulations of fluid flow, we show that the rapid bioaggregation is driven by the interplay of the viscoelastic nature of biomass and hydrodynamic conditions at pore throats. At an early stage, unique flow structures around a pore throat promote the biomass attachment at the throat. Then, the attached biomass fluidizes when the shear stress at the partially clogged pore throat reaches a critical value. After the fluidization, the biomass is displaced and accumulated in the expansion region of throats forming bioaggregates. We further find that such criticality in shear stress triggers morphological changes in bioaggregates from rounded- to streamer-like shapes. This knowledge was used to control the clogging of throats by tuning the flow conditions: When the shear stress at the throat exceeded the critical value, clogging was prevented. The bioaggregation process did not depend on the detailed pore-throat geometry, as we reproduced the same dynamics in various pore-throat geometries. This study demonstrates that pore-throat structures, which are ubiquitous in porous media systems, induce bioaggregation and can lead to abrupt disruptions in flow. National Academy of Sciences 2023-03-29 2023-04-04 /pmc/articles/PMC10083537/ /pubmed/36989304 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204466120 Text en Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Physical Sciences
Lee, Sang Hyun
Secchi, Eleonora
Kang, Peter K.
Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows
title Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows
title_full Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows
title_fullStr Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows
title_full_unstemmed Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows
title_short Rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows
title_sort rapid formation of bioaggregates and morphology transition to biofilm streamers induced by pore-throat flows
topic Physical Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10083537/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36989304
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204466120
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