The start-up period of styrene degrading biofilters

Abstract

Styrene vapors from contaminated air were eliminated using long-term adapted mixed microbial culture inoculated on four perlite packed biofilters (serial arrangement, up-flow configuration). During start-up the inlet concentration of styrene rose from 175 to 1300 mg/m3 of total carbon. The total actual residence time in the four biofilters was 24 s. Styrene was successfully degraded by the microbial population in the biofilter. An average of 66% of eliminated styrene was transformed to CO2. The removal efficiency of the pollutant was, after 18 d of start-up, nearly 85% at an organic load of 170 g/m3 per h. The concentration profiles along the bed height were linear for various pollutant inlet concentrations. The total amount of microorganisms in analyzed biomass from the biofilters was about 10(9) per gram of dry packing mass. The moisture content was around 80% in all biofilters.

Performance of a biofilter for the removal of high concentrations of styrene under steady and non-steady state conditions

“…Juneson et al [12] investigated styrene removal using a styrene enriched culture in a biofilter packed with composted wood bark mixed with yard wastes and observed maximum removal rates of 271 and 334 g m −3 h −1 at 60 and 30 s empty bed residence time (EBRT). Similarly, a mixed culture biofilter packed with perlite showed maximum elimination capacity (EC) of 145 g m −3 h −1 [13]. Jang et al [14] used Pseudomonas sp.…”

Biochemistry, genetics and physiology of microbial styrene degradation

“…Cox and co‐workers, using perlite‐packed filters to enrich styrene‐degrading fungi, reported styrene elimination capacities of 70 g m −3 filter bed h −1 when exposed to influent gas containing styrene amounts ranging from 290 to 675 mg m −3 [59]. In a subsequent study, Weigner et al achieved 85% elimination of styrene from an organic load of 170 g m −3 h −1 , 18 days after the start‐up of four serially aligned, perlite‐packed filters that had been inoculated with a long‐term adapted mixed microbial culture [60]. The potential of low cost natural filters has also been assessed.…”

Biotrickling filtration of airborne styrene: A comparison of filtration media

“…According to the data listed in Table 4, it can be seen that perlite (an amorphous volcanic glass, usually thermalexpanded to give a bulk density of about 30-150 kg m −3 ) had a relatively higher K of 62-145 g m −3 hr −1 (Cox, Doddema, and Harder 1993;Cox et al 1997;Paca et al 2001;Weigner et al 2001) among the media listed in the table. Possible reasons could be the small particle sizes (<10 mm), hydrophilic surface, and porous structure that led to high biomass densities in the packed space.…”