The History of Fixed-film Wastewater Treatment Systems

The Science and ‘art’ of wastewater engineering stretches only slightly beyond one hundred years. Within this period, the applied technology has certainly made significant strides in promoting disease control and environmental protection. Fixed-film treatment unquestionably plays an important role in this history, particularly since it represented the original biological mechanism. Beginning with options like the trickling filter, intermittent filter and contact bed, fixed-film systems dominated the technology of wastewater treatment for several decades. And although this status has subsequently been assumed by suspended growth process, there is unquestionably a resurgence of interest in fixed-film applications.