The foregoing examples illustrate that practitioners in diverse industrial sectors have some very similar concerns about biofilm accumulation and activity in their respective systems including how to:
It should be noted that the existing and evolving methods for biofilm detection, quantification and identification usually (with some exceptions) require some form of laboratory analysis to complete. These methods are covered in detail in Module 8 "Methods for Studying Biofilms".
A summary of basic approaches for biofilm control is given in Figure 5.8. Detailed coverage of the topic of biofilm control is found in Module 5 "Controlling Biofilms".