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Abstract
A flow system was built to monitor biofilm growth on the inner surface of stainless steel tubes in a wide range of time intervals with adjustable initial microbial populations. Biofilm formation was detected by total plate counting (TPC) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods. The system was tested using Pseudomonas putida biofilms. Bacteria suspensions were flowing through the system continuously and maintained at 5.1 +/- 0.3 log CFU/ml for the entire duration of the experiment period. Biofilm was detected after 16 h by TPC, while impedance started to decrease at 28 h when biofilm populations were greater than 2.3 105 CFU/swab. The regression equation for the corrected Zreal (Zrc) versus log biofilm colony counts (C, 5.2 < C < 7.0) was Zrc = -23.3 C + 100.9 with R2 = 0.772.