Behavior of biofilters for waste air biotreatment. 1. Dynamic model development.

An novel diffusion reaction model for the determination of both the steady-state and transient-state behavior of biofilters for waste air biotreatment is developed and discussed. The model considers the reactor to comprise finite sections, for each of which transient mass balances are established and solved by digital simulation. The elimination of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) vapors from air as single and mixed pollutants serves as an example to illustrate and discuss both the model's response and its parametric sensitivity. Experimental evaluation of the model is presented in part 2 of this paper.