Bio-control of Industrial Biofilms

Biofilm is a common mode of bacterial growth on organic or inorganic surfaces in contact with a liquid and is found to be a dynamic process and different mechanisms are involved in the adhesion and growth of bacteria on synthetic materials. In order to determine the adhesion kinetics of bacteria within biofilms, the formation of dairy biofilms and thermoresistant B.cereus biofilm was performed in silicone and stainless steel continuous flow pilot circuits. The observations by ESEM showed a compact structure of biofilms after 9 hours of contact on the supports with a percentage of occupation of 90% of the surface presenting variations of the physicochemical characteristics of ydrophobicity and surface tensions. In order to optimize a biofilm inhibition method, a bio-coating by a strain of Lc. lactis was developed to protect the surface by the emerging phenomenon of 'coating' minimizing bacterial adhesion and consequently biofilm formation. The evaluation of the impact of the bio-coating of the supports showed a decrease in the rate of adhered cells to 80%.