Thermodynamic Inhibition in a Biofilm Reactor with Suspended Bacteria

We formulate a biofilm reactor model with suspended bacteria that accounts for thermodynamic growth inhibition. The reactor model is a chemostat style model consisting of a single replenished growth promoting substrate, a single reaction product, suspended bacteria, and wall attached bacteria in the form of a bacterial biofilm. We present stability conditions for the washout equilibrium using standard techniques, demonstrating that analytical results are attainable even with the added complexity from thermodynamic inhibition. Furthermore, we numerically investigate the longterm behaviour. In the computational study, we investigate model behaviour for select parameters and two commonly used detachment functions. We investigate the effects of thermodynamic inhibition on the model and find that thermodynamic inhibition limits substrate utilization/production both inside the biofilm and inside the aqueous phase, resulting in less suspended bacteria and a thinner biofilm.