Effect of hydrophobic fumed silica addition on a biofilter for pentane removal using SIFT-MS

José Joaquín González-Cortés; Joren Bruneel; Martín Ramírez; Christophe Walgraeve

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126738

Effect of hydrophobic fumed silica addition on a biofilter for pentane removal using SIFT-MS

Chemosphere. 2020 Sep:254:126738. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126738. Epub 2020 Apr 17.

Authors

José Joaquín González-Cortés¹, Joren Bruneel², Martín Ramírez³, Christophe Walgraeve²

Affiliations

¹ Research Group EnVOC, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Technology, Vine and Agri-Food Research Institute (IVAGRO), University of Cadiz, Pol. Río San Pedro s/n, Puerto Real, 11510, Spain.
² Research Group EnVOC, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Technology, Vine and Agri-Food Research Institute (IVAGRO), University of Cadiz, Pol. Río San Pedro s/n, Puerto Real, 11510, Spain. Electronic address: martin.ramirez@uca.es.

PMID: 32339799
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.126738

Abstract

Biofiltration is a typical air pollution control process for the treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Mass transfer of hydrophobic VOCs to the biofilm is limited which leads to low removal efficiency (RE). Aiming to enhance the transport of hydrophobic VOCs, the effect of hydrophobic fumed silica (HFS) addition to a biofilter (BF) for pentane removal was studied in this paper. The effect of HFS on pentane removal was evaluated by daily RE measurements and periodical headspace gas pentane pulse injections using SIFT-MS as analysis apparatus. The BF was operated during more than 100 days at an empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 120 s reaching an elimination capacity (EC) up to 93.8 g pentane m^-3 h^-1. At the last stage of the study, when a higher nutrient pulse and HFS to a concentration of 1.5% w/w wet were added, the BF showed better EC (46.3 ± 14.9 g pentane m^-3 h^-1; RE = 96.2%) compared to the previous stages (28.3 ± 4.4 g pentane m^-3 h^-1; RE = 68.3%). This overall performance improvement was in line with the short peak perturbation experiments carried out during the operational time which demonstrated, by net retention time (NRT) determination, to be a fast and reliable tool to gain insights into the behaviour of pollutants inside the BF and its state. Pentane demonstrated to have larger interactions with the packing material when HFS was added. NRT/EBRT ratio variated along the whole operational time, being larger at the last stage.

Keywords: Biofiltration; Hydrophobic fumed silica; Pentane; SIFT-MS; Volatile organic compounds.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / analysis
Air Pollutants / isolation & purification*
Biodegradation, Environmental
Biofilms
Filtration / instrumentation
Filtration / methods*
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
Pentanes / isolation & purification*
Silicon Dioxide / pharmacology*
Volatile Organic Compounds / analysis
Volatile Organic Compounds / isolation & purification*

Substances

Air Pollutants
Pentanes
Volatile Organic Compounds
pentane
Silicon Dioxide