A comparison of biofiltration performance based on bacteria and fungi for treating toluene vapors from airflow

Abstract

With increasing concerns about industrial gas contaminants and the growing demand for durable and sustainable technologies, attentions have been gradually shifted to biological air pollution controls. The ability of Pseudomonas putida PTCC 1694 (bacteria) and Pleurotus ostreatus IRAN 1781C (fungus) to treat contaminated gas stream with toluene and its biological degradation was compared under similar operating conditions. For this purpose, a biofilter on the laboratory scale was designed and constructed and the tests were carried out in two stages. The first stage, bacterial testing, lasted 20 days and the second stage, fungal testing, lasted 16 days. Inlet loading rates (IL) for bacterial and fungal biofilters were 21.62 ± 6.04 and 26.24 ± 7.35 g/m 3 h respectively. In general, fungal biofilter showed a higher elimination capacity (EC) than bacterial biofilter (18.1 ± 6.98 vs 13.7 ± 4.7 g/m 3 h). However, the pressure drop in the fungal biofilter was higher than the bacterial biofilter (1.26 ± 0.3 vs 1 ± 0.3 mm water), which was probably due to the growth of the mycelium. Fungal biofiltration showed a better performance in the removal of toluene from the air stream.

Effects of Water Content and Irrigation of Packing Materials on the Performance of Biofilters and Biotrickling Filters: A Review

“…The optimal humidity of inlet gas was found to be 85% [33]. On the other hand, excessive water accumulation in the pores of packing material results in its clogging and the increase in pressure drop of BFs [34,35]. In many biofiltration studies, the packing material in BF column is divided into several sections (layers) with spaces between them [36,37].…”

Acetone, Xylene and Ammonia Removal Enhancement in the Biofilter Packed With Steam Modified Biochar

“…Bacteria are the dominant microorganisms in the removal of VOCs, and high moisture content and neutral pH are favourable conditions for their development (Revah et al, 2011). In summary, bacteria are better suited for the removal of hydrophilic compounds under optimal conditions (Ghasemi et al, 2020). Bacteria Pseudomonas sp.…”

“…In biofilters, a contaminated air stream or odorous gas is passed through a biologically enriched filter material, such as soil, wood sawdust, compost or mixed materials that biodegrade adsorbed/absorbed contaminants (Pagans et al, 2005). Packing materials used in biofilters for air treatment can be: pine wood bark (Andres et al, 2007), granular mineralized and fibrous peat (Alvarez-Hornos et al, 2007), coconut fiber, peat, compost from wastewater treatment plant and pine leaves (Maestre et al, 2005), a mixture of vermicomost and wood charcoal (Ghasemi et al, 2020). This study evaluated the efficiency of pine wood biochar modified with the steam of rhamnolipid solution in the removal of volatile organic (acetone, xylene) and inorganic (ammonia) compounds.…”