Performance and feasibility of biotrickling filtration in the control of styrene industrial air emissions

Abstract

The performance and feasibility of a pilot unit of biotrickling filter (BTF) for the treatment of industrial emissions polluted by styrene was investigated for one year at a fiber reinforced plastic industrial site. The pilot unit was packed with a structured material with a volume of 0.6 m 3. Monitoring results have shown successful treatment of the industrial styrene emissions working at empty bed residence times (EBRT) between 31 and 66 s. The best performance was obtained after 300 days when a more stable biofilm had been developed, obtaining the highest elimination capacity of 18.8 g m-3 h-1 (removal efficiency of 75.6%) working at 31 s of EBRT. In addition, a photocatalytic reactor was evaluated as pretreatment of the biological process, but results have shown very low capacity for improving the BTF performance due to catalyst deactivation. The economic feasibility of the BTF was evaluated. The total direct cost, excluding capital recovery, of the biotrickling filter technology was estimated in 0.71 € year-1 per Nm 3 h-1 of treated air whereas 2.27 € year-1 per Nm 3 h-1 was obtained for the regenerative catalytic oxidizer equipped with a zeolite pre-concentrator. Results show that this technology is economically and environmentally competitive in comparison with thermal treatment.

Experiments and modelling of a biotrickling filter (BTF) for removal of styrene from airstreams

“…In the literature one can find numerous studies whose authors examined the process of biopurification of air from styrene in laboratory‐scale biofilters (BF) and biotrickling filters (BTF) (recently). Pilot studies on the removal of styrene from the air are still scarce thus making its industrial implementation difficult. Much valuable information concerning the operation of pilot BTF installation can be found in the studies of Deshusses et al .…”

“…Attempts to increase the efficiency of the process of biopurification of air are made by the addition of silicone oil as a non‐aqueous phase (NAP) to the liquid trickling over the packing of BTF; in this way the mass transfer of hydrophobic compounds from gas to liquid phase was enhanced, or by using integrated UV‐BTF systems . Rene et al .…”

“…5 Moreover styrene, a moderately hydrophobic compound, is readily biodegradable and can be used as a model substance for studying microbial degradation of aromatic compounds. 2 In the literature one can find numerous studies whose authors examined the process of biopurification of air from styrene in laboratory-scale biofilters (BF) and biotrickling filters (BTF) (recently [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Pilot studies on the removal of styrene from the air are still scarce 6,13,20 thus making its industrial implementation difficult.…”

“…2 In the literature one can find numerous studies whose authors examined the process of biopurification of air from styrene in laboratory-scale biofilters (BF) and biotrickling filters (BTF) (recently [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Pilot studies on the removal of styrene from the air are still scarce 6,13,20 thus making its industrial implementation difficult. Much valuable information concerning the operation of pilot BTF installation can be found in the studies of Deshusses et al [21][22][23] Webster et al 6 described operational and performance problems occurring during continuous operation of a pilot/full-scale BTF installation (two tanks in series) in which 340 m 3 h −1 of air laden with styrene was treated.…”

“…Attempts to increase the efficiency of the process of biopurification of air are made by the addition of silicone oil as a non-aqueous phase (NAP) to the liquid trickling over the packing of BTF; in this way the mass transfer of hydrophobic compounds from gas to liquid phase was enhanced, 10,12,15,19,24 or by using integrated UV-BTF systems. 9,13 Rene et al [17][18][19] studied removal of styrene using a newly isolated fungus Sporothrix veriecibatus. The experiments performed with and without the addition of silicone oil show that systems inoculated with fungi were more efficient than the systems inoculated with bacterial cultures.…”