生物膜工艺对于去除水回用方案中以及自然界中微量有机化合物具有潜在的重要意义。本文介绍了可控生物膜反应器的二次利用机理。二次利用是二次基质的生物降解，其代谢对维持细胞不重要。微量有机物是次级底物的好例子，因为它们的浓度太低，无法支持任何显著的细胞质量。 对五种代表性化合物（醋酸盐、半乳糖、丙氨酸、胸腺嘧啶和苯酚）的实验表明，二次利用可以去除水中的有机化合物，即使在输入浓度较低的情况下。实验和理论结果表明，随着输入浓度的降低，分数去除率往往会增加。包括25个参考文献、表格和图表。

Biofilm processes are potentially important for the removal of trace levels of organic compounds in water reuse schemes as well as in nature. This article describes the mechanism of secondary utilization in controlled biofilm reactors. Secondary utilization is the biodegradation of a secondary substrate, the metabolism of which is inconsequential to sustaining the cells. Trace levels of organics are good examples of secondary substrates because their concentrations are too low to support any significant cell mass. Experiments with five representative compounds (acetate, galactose, alanine, thymine, and phenol) demonstrate that secondary utilization can remove organic compounds from water, even when the input concentrations are low. Experimental and theoretical results show that fractional removals are often increased as the input concentration is reduced. Includes 25 references, tables, figures.