A bioactive foamed emulsion reactor for the treatment of benzene-contaminated air stream

Abstract

An adapted bioactive foamed emulsion bioreactor for the treatment of benzene vapor has been developed. In this reactor, bed clogging was resolved by bioactive foam as a substitute of packing bed for interfacial contact of liquid to gaseous phase. The pollutant solubility has been increased using biocompatible organic phase in liquid phase and this reactor can be applied for higher inlet benzene concentration. Experimental results showed a benzene elimination capacity (EC) of 220 g m(-3) h(-1) with removal efficiency (RE) of 85% for benzene inlet concentration of 1-1.2 g m(-3) at 15 s gas residence time in bioreactor. Assessment of benzene concentration in liquid phase showed that a significant amount of transferred benzene mass has been biodegraded. By optimizing the operational parameters of bioreactor, continuous operation of bioreactor with high EC and RE was demonstrated. With respect to the results, this reactor has the potential to be applied instead of biofilter and biotrickling filters.

Biodegradation of high concentrations of benzene vapors in a two phase partition stirred tank bioreactor

“…The nutrient medium consisted of: 1 g/L KH 2 PO 4 , 1 g/L K 2 HPO 4 , 0.2 g/L MgSO 4 , 1 g/L NaCl, 1 g/LKNO 3 as well as trace elements that comprised of: 26 mg/L CaCl 2 .2H 2 O, 5.5 mg/L EDTA Na 4 (H 2 O) 2 , 1.3 mg/L FeCl 3 .4H 2 O, 0.12 mg/L CoCl 2 .6H 2 O, 0.1 g/L MnCl 2 .2H 2 O, 0.07 mg/L ZnCl 2 , 0.06 mg/L H 3 BO 3 , 0.025 mg/L NiCl 2 .6H 2 O, 0.025 mg/L NaMoO 4 .2H 2 O and 0.015 mg/L CuCl 2. 2H 2 O [10]. …”

“…This, in turn, confines their application to the treatment of only very dilute waste gases. Common problems encountered in these designs include airflow channeling, increased pressure drop, drying of the filter bed, low rates of substrate and oxygen mass transfer, and inhibition by toxic substrates [7-10]. The technology of two phase partitioning bireactors (TPPBs) was originally adapted from its bioreactor predecessors to address these limitations.…”