Biofilm carriers, named ‘biocarriers’, are solids that allow the good attachment of microbes during wastewater treatment. Biocarriers also act as redox mediators to speed up the biotransformation of contaminants in industrial effluents, yet it is challenging to choose a biocarrier material that achieves strong biofilm adhesion and high degradation rates. Here we review insoluble polymeric biocarriers with focus on selecting a biocarrier, biofilm growth, metabolic pathways, applications, surface modification, and composites. According to the efficiency to decrease the chemical oxygen demand, conventional and modified composite biocarriers are rated as following: polyvinyl alcohol > polyurethane > polyethylene > polypropylene, and polyvinyl alcohol > waste tire > polyurethane > polyethylene, respectively. We also discuss biological and physical fouling.

生物膜载体，称为“生物载体”，是允许废水处理过程中微生物良好附着的固体。生物载体还可以充当氧化还原介质，以加快工业废水中污染物的生物转化，但是，选择具有强生物膜附着力和高降解速率的生物载体材料是一项挑战。在这里，我们综述不溶性聚合物生物载体，重点是选择生物载体，生物膜生长，代谢途径，应用，表面修饰和复合材料。根据降低化学需氧量的效率，常规和改良的复合生物载体的等级分别为：聚乙烯醇>聚氨酯>聚乙烯>聚丙烯，聚乙烯醇>废轮胎>聚氨酯>聚乙烯。