Biofiltration of methanol vapor

Abstract

Biofiltration of solvent and fuel vapors may offer a cost-effective way to comply with increasingly strict air emission standards. An important step in the development of this technology is to derive and validate mathematical models of the biofiltration process for predictive and scaleup calculations. For the study of methanol vapor biofiltration, an 8-membered bacterial consortium was obtained from methanol-exposed soil. The bacteria were immobilized on solid support and packed into a 5-cm-diameter, 60-cm-high column provided with appropriate flowmeters and sampling ports. The solid support was prepared by mixing two volumes of peat with three volumes of perlite particles (i.e., peat-perlite volume ratio 2:3). Two series of experiments were performed. In the first, the inlet methanol concentration was kept constant while the superficial air velocity was varied from run to run. In the second series, the air flow rate (velocity) was kept constant while the inlet methanol concentration was varied. The unit proved effective in removing methanol at rates up to 112.8 g h(-1) m(-3) packing. A mathematical model has been derived and validated. The model described and predicted experimental results closely. Both experimental data and model predictions suggest that the methanol biofiltration process was limited by oxygen diffusion and methanol degradation kinetics.

Development and Performance of an Alternative Biofilter System

“…In fact, the overall trend was such that the removal efficiency decreased with the inlet NH 3 level (from 95% at NH 3 = 25 ppm to 67% at NH 3 = 130 ppm) throughout the biofilter. This phenomenon is similar to observations made by other researchers [15][16][17] in studies of the removal of other contaminants (methanol vapor, ketones, and triethylamine, respectively).…”

Effect of Advanced Oxidants Generated Via Ultraviolet Light on a Sequentially Loaded and Regenerated Granular Activated Carbon Biofilter

“…[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] The concepts of biodegradation and adsorption by solid media have been combined in a process that has been termed biofiltration.…”

An intelligent neural network model for evaluating performance of immobilized cell biofilter treating hydrogen sulphide vapors

“…Chung et al, (1996) (Chung et al, 1996;Cha et al, 1999). Traditionally the performance of biofilters has been modeled/predicted using process based models that are based on mass balance principles, simple reaction kinetics and a plug flow of air stream (Ottengraf and Oever, 1983;Shareefdeen et al, 1993;Deshusses et al, 1995;Jin et al, 2006). The main advantages of these process models are that they are based on the underlying physical process and the results obtained generally provide a good understanding of the system.…”