Influence of surface copper content on Stenotrophomonas maltophilia biofilm control using chlorine and mechanical stress

• Autor(a) principal: Gomes, I. B.
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Simões, Lúcia Chaves, Simões, M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/64130
• topic: biofilm control; chlorine; copper alloys; flushing; rotating cylinder reactor; Science & Technology

This work aimed to evaluate the action of materials with different copper content (0, 57, 96 and 100%) on biofilm formation and control by chlorination and mechanical stress. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolated from drinking water was used as a model microorganism and biofilms were developed in a rotating cylinder reactor using realism-based shear stress conditions. Biofilms were characterized phenotypically and exposed to three control strategies: 10mg l1 of free chlorine for 10min, an increased shear stress (a fluid velocity of 1.5m s1 for 30s), and a combination of both treatments. These shock treatments were not effective in biofilm control. The benefits from the use of copper surfaces was found essentially in reducing the numbers of non-damaged cells. Copper materials demonstrated better performance in biofilm prevention than chlorine. In general, copper alloys may have a positive public health impact by reducing the number of non-damaged cells in the water delivered after chlorine exposure.