Biological Waste Gas Cleaning in a Pilot-scale Biofilter with Different Filter Material and Modeling a Hybrid Process of Adsorption and Biofiltration

Biological waste gas cleaning is gaining more and more importance for the removal of the volatile organic compounds from air polluted streams. In order to investigate the performance of this technology a biofiltration pilot unit was operated for a continuous period of 14 months. The biofilter was packed with newly developed compost pellets and a mixture of compost and peat. At start-up, the biofilter was inoculated with a microbial consortium adapted to degrade ethylacetate. The biofilter was then fed with ethylacetate enriched air. The maximum elimination capacities were 199 g m h using the compost pellets and 112 g m h for a mixture of compost and peat. The compost pellets showed no long-term impairment at very high inlet gas concentrations and after periods without pollutants.