Simón, Francesc XavierRudé i Payró, ElisabetLlorens Llacuna, JoanBaig, Sylvie2013-09-062013-09-0620130011-9164https://hdl.handle.net/2445/45687Despite the low biodegradability of seawater NOM, problems associated with biofouling are common in facilities that handle seawater. In this work, a fixed-film aerobic biofilter is proposed as an effective unit for preventing biofouling in such facilities. A packed-bed biofilter with an EBCT = 6 - 11 min was employed. The results demonstrated that the DOC is reduced by 6% and the BOD7 is reduced up to 15%. The LC-OCD analysis revealed that biofiltration abates the LMW neutrals and biopolymer fractions by 33 and 17%, respectively. However, the fractionation with UF membrane showed that the biofiltration process is able to degrade the more biodegradable compounds that have molecular weights that are greater than 1 kDa and compounds with molecular weights of less than 1 kDa. After biofiltration, the biological activity measured in terms of ATP removal was reduced by 60%. Finally, a test to evaluate the biofilm formation capacity of a water sample revealed reductions of ~94% when comparing biofiltered and non-biofiltered seawater. Therefore, a fixed-film aerobic biofiltration process could be a useful treatment for the removal of biodegradable organic matter from seawater and for improving the water quality in terms of less biofilm formation capacity.39 p.application/pdfeng(c) Elsevier B.V., 2013Aigua de marBiodegradacióBiofilmsContaminació de l'aiguaEnginyeria químicaSeawaterBiodegradationBiofilmsWater pollutionChemical engineeringinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article6215772013-09-06info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess