Start-up, performance and optimization of a compost biofilter treating gas-phase mixture of benzene and toluene

Bioresour Technol. 2015 Aug:190:529-35. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.03.049. Epub 2015 Mar 14.

Abstract

The performance of a compost biofilter inoculated with mixed microbial consortium was optimized for treating a gas-phase mixture of benzene and toluene. The biofilter was acclimated to these VOCs for a period of ∼18d. The effects of concentration and flow rate on the removal efficiency (RE) and elimination capacity (EC) were investigated by varying the inlet concentration of benzene (0.12-0.95g/m(3)), toluene (0.14-1.48g/m(3)) and gas-flow rate (0.024-0.072m(3)/h). At comparable loading rates, benzene removal in the mixture was reduced in the range of 6.6-41% in comparison with the individual benzene degradation. Toluene removal in mixture was even more affected as observed from the reductions in REs, ranging from 18.4% to 76%. The results were statistically interpreted by performing an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to elucidate the main and interaction effects.

Keywords: Biofilter; Elimination capacity; Shut-down; Statistical optimization; VOCs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / chemistry
  • Air Pollutants / isolation & purification*
  • Benzene / chemistry
  • Benzene / isolation & purification*
  • Biodegradation, Environmental
  • Bioreactors / microbiology*
  • Complex Mixtures / chemistry
  • Complex Mixtures / isolation & purification
  • Computer Simulation
  • Computer-Aided Design
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Models, Biological
  • Phase Transition
  • Soil / chemistry*
  • Toluene / chemistry
  • Toluene / isolation & purification*
  • Ultrafiltration / instrumentation*
  • Ultrafiltration / methods

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Complex Mixtures
  • Soil
  • Toluene
  • Benzene