Biofilm Formation and Control in Membrane Systems for Water and Wastewater Treatment

Dear Colleagues, 

We are pleased to invite you to submit a paper for MDPI Membranes for the Special Issue “Biofilm Formation and Control in Membrane Systems for Water and Wastewater Treatment”. Biofilms are communities of microorganisms held together by secreted substances that are attached to a surface or present as assemblies suspended in liquid. Biofilm formation allows microbes to live in close proximity to each other with a broad range of advantages such as adhesion/cohesion capabilities, mechanical properties, nutritional sources, metabolite exchange platform, cellular communication, protection, and resistance to drugs. Particularly, biofilms have adverse effects on industrial, agricultural, and food distribution systems and human health, while they play an integral role in biogeochemical cycles in every ecosystem on the planet.  

To address this important issue in the membrane system for water and wastewater treatment, the Special Issue of Membranes will focus on the development of microbial biofilm and state-of-the-art technologies for biofilm control in water and wastewater treatment. Articles for this interdisciplinary Special Issue should focus on either the fundamental or the applicative aspects of biofilm formation and biofouling control in water and wastewater treatments. We especially encourage studies that discuss biofilm formation and its control in various membrane systems. 

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: 

1. The impact of biofilm formation and development on membrane systems;
2. Microbial ecology in biofilm development;
3. The development and characterization of novel technologies for biofouling control;
4. The inhibition of microbial quorum sensing for biofouling control;
5. The development of granules in membrane coupled processes;
6. The role of biofilms in aerobic and anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactors;
7. The analysis of mechanisms for biofouling in various membrane processes. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Sung Woo Bae
Dr. Hyun-Suk Oh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.