Mass transport model of ions within biofilms under the effect of external field

A mass transport model was developed to predict the transport rate of ions within biofilms, which was experimentally verified using the fluxes of NH4+ and Ca2+ through the heterotrophic biofilms with the thickness varying from 230 to 1430 microm under the effect of external field in the range of -20 V/m to 60 V/m. It is found that the result predicted by the model is in agreement with the experimentally obtained one, with the error less than 5 percent for the thin biofilms. The error increases with the increase of the biofilm thickness. The transport rate of ions caused by electric migration is affected by the charges, field strength, and biofilm thickness and so on.