Boric Acid Dispersion of Biofilm (BAD-B)

Biofilms in spacecraft water recycling systems (WRS) can cause crew illness, occlude water lines, and induce corrosion on WRS materials. The treatment of biofilms in spacecraft water systems has historically been limited by a lack of suitable methods to overcome biofilm-associated antimicrobial tolerance (AMT). One way to get around AMT is to induce biofilm dispersion. To address AMT in spacecraft WRS, I evaluated the use of boric acid (BA) as an agent to disperse biofilms formed on common WRS materials, including 316L stainless steel, PFTE Teflon, and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. Recent studies have shown that BA can be effective at dispersing biofilms of a variety of bacterial species. BA has also been shown to interact synergistically with antibiotics and disinfectants.