Performance of biotrickling filters packed with structured or cubic polyurethane sponges for VOC removal

• Published in: Journal of environmental sciences (China) Vol. 23; no. 8; pp. 1325 - 1333
• Main Authors: Yang, Chunping, Yu, Guanlong, Zeng, Guangming, Yang, Haining, Chen, Fayuan, Jin, Congying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.01.2011; College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Hunan 410082, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control, Hunan University, Ministry of Education, Hunan 410082, China%College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Hunan 410082, China; College of Environmental Science and Engneering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310012, China%College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Hunan 410082, China
• Subjects: air flow; biofilters; biofiltration; biomass; Bioreactors; biotrickling filter; China; Contact; elimination capacity; empty bed contact time; Filtration - methods; Media; Polyurethane resins; polyurethanes; Polyurethanes - chemistry; Pressure drop; sponge; Sponges; Toluene; VOC; volatile organic compound; volatile organic compounds; Volatile Organic Compounds - isolation & purification; Wastes; 包装; 有机负荷; 生物质能; 立方; 结构化; 聚氨酯海绵; 过滤器; sponge; elimination capacity; biotrickling filter; biofiltration; empty bed contact time; volatile organic compound
• ISSN: 1001-0742; 1878-7320
• DOI: 10.1016/S1001-0742(10)60565-7

Two identical bench-scale biotrickling filters （BTFs）, BTF 1 and BTF 2, were evaluated for toluene removal at various gas empty bed contact times （EBCTs） and organic loadings. BTF 1 and BTF 2 were packed with structured and cubic synthetic polyurethane sponges, respectively. At a constant toluene loading of 16 g/（m3.hr）, toluene removal efficiencies decreased from 98.8% to 64.3% for BTF 1 and from 98.4% to 74.1% for BTF 2 as gas EBCT decreased from 30 to 5 sec. When the toluene loading increased from 35 to 140 g/（m3.hr） at a gas EBCT of 30 sec, the removal efficiencies decreased from 99.1% to 77.4% for BTF 1 and from 99.0% to 81.5% for BTF 2. The pressure drop for both BTFs increased with increased air flow rate, and did not significantly vary while the toluene loading was increased under similar operation conditions. BTF 1 and BTF 2 could start up successfully within 19 and 27 days, respectively, when packed with fresh sponge media, and the performances could be restored in 3-7 days after biomass was removed and wasted from the media. BTF 2 displayed higher removal efficiency even under shorter EBCT or higher loading rate than BTF1 when other operation conditions were similar, while it showed lower pressure drop than BTF 1 during the whole period of operation. These results demonstrated that both BTFs could treat waste gas containing toluene effectively.