University of Texas at Austin

Department of Civil Engineering

What is BiOFiLM?

BiOFiLM is a computer program to design deep-biofilm packed beds that runs under Windows 95. The program is used to calculate the bioreactor volume required to achieve the desired removal of the substrate of interest. In this context, the substrate of interest may be either the electron donor, as in the case of carbonaceous oxidation (substrate = BOD), or the electron acceptor, as in the case of denitrification (substrate = NO₃-N).

The bioreactor is calculated based on the physical and biological parameters provided by the user. A sample of the input and output windows of the program is presented below.
 
 

Besides calculating the size of a bioreactor, the program can produce graphs that can help explore and understand the behavior of deep-biofilm reactors. Below is a sample of the graphs that BiOFiLM can produce.
 
 

How do I get BiOFiLM?

BiOFiLM can be downloaded online using the links below. If you have Visual Basic 5.0 or higher installed in your computer, you can use link 1; otherwise you must use link 2 since it includes the runtime libraries required by BiOFiLM.

1. Only BiOFiLM (131 KB)
2. BiOFiLM and VB 5.0 runtime libraries (2,012 KB)
   
   

Installation Instructions

BiOFiLM comes in compressed zip files, so you will need a decompression utility such as PKUNZIP or WINZIP to expand the installation files.
 

• If you chose to download the version without the Visual Basic runtime libraries, you should extract the files to the directory where you want BiOFiLM to reside. In this version, there will be 4 files extracted:

1. BIOFILM.EXE - The executable program
2. BIOHELP.HLP - BiOFiLM's help file
3. BFLMEXMP.DAT - Sample data file
4. BIOFILM2.DAT - Another sample data file

After extracting the files, BiOFiLM is ready to use, and you can start it from the Windows Explorer, or you might want to create a shortcut for it on your desktop.

• If you downloaded the version that includes Visual Basic's runtime libraries, you will need to extract the files to a temporary directory. Then, look for the file SETUP.EXE and execute it. This program will lead you through the program's installation process where you will be able to specify the permanent directory for BiOFiLM. This process will also create an entry in your Start/Programs menu to access BiOFiLM faster. This version also includes the help file and the sample data files. After finishing the installation of the program you can delete the files in the temporary directory.
  
  

For more information...

For more information about BiOFiLM contact Dr. Gerald E. Speitel Jr. (speitel@mail.utexas.edu).
 

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