Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a very common odor nuisance which is best controlled by chemical or biological scrubbing. Under alkaline pH, the amount of H2S that can be solubilized in a scrubbing liquid increases significantly, and therefore, gas-liquid mass transfer limitations can be reduced. To date, biological scrubbing of H2S has been limited to neutral or acidic pH, despite the potential bene...

Odour from agricultural activities, such as the spreading of manure and the housing of animals, is increasingly being considered a nuisance in densely populated countries like the Netherlands. The objective of this research was to study the odour removal from pig house exhaust air by a biotrickling filter that had been implemented for ammonia abatement. At a regular pig production farm, the per...

The feasibility of using biotrickling filters for the removal of mercury vapor from simulated flue gases was evaluated. The experiments were carried out in laboratory-scale biotrickling filters with various mixed cultures naturally attached on a polyurethane foam packing. Sulfur oxidizing bacteria, toluene degraders and denitrifiers were used and compared for their ability to remove Hg 0 vapor....

The removal of H2S in high performance biotrickling filters was investigated using a differential biotrickling filter. The differential biotrickling filter was designed to reach high gas velocities through a minature packed bed, in this case a single 4-cm open-pore polyurethane foam cube. External mass transfer was limiting below air velocities of 3000–4000 m h−1, with possible other parameters...

The present paper evaluates the technical and economical feasibility of converting wet chemical scrubbers to biotrickling filters for H2S control at the Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD), California. Results of 8 months of continuous operation of a biotrickling filter treating 16,000 m3 h–1 of foul air are analyzed. The reactor was operated at a gas contact time of 1.6 to 2.2 seconds rea...

The selection of an adequate support medium where the biofilm is immobilized in a biotrickling filter is critical for the optimization of the pollutant removal capacity of the unit. Recent efforts have focused in the development of synthetic media possessing properties such as high interfacial contact area, low density, high rigidity, high void fraction or porosity, sufficient water retention c...

The presence of volatile methyl siloxanes (VMSs) presents challenges for using landfill and digester gases as energy fuels because of the formation of silicon dioxide deposits during combustion. This study looks at the feasibility of using biological treatment to control VMSs. Biotrickling filters removing octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4), selected as a model VMS, from aerobic and anaerobic wa...

Until recently, biological treatment of odors in biofilters or biotrickling filters was thought to require a longer gas contact time than chemical scrubbing, hence bioreactors for air treatment required a larger footprint. This paper discusses the conversion of chemical scrubbers to biological trickling filters. Initially, research was conducted with a laboratory-scale biotrickling filter. An e...

A biotrickling filter inoculated with commercial mixed microorganisms B350 was employed to treat N-containing odorous vapor - aniline. Results indicated no aniline could be detected when empty bed residence time (EBRT) was larger than 110s at inlet concentration of 0.30 g m(-3). The variation of inlet concentration did not change removal efficiencies when concentration is less than 0.21 g m(-3)...

Until now, it has not been possible to use biofiltration to treat trichloroethene (TCE) from waste gases generated by soil vapor extraction or dual-phase extraction at remediation sites because aerobic biodegradation of TCE is possible only via cometabolism, which is difficult to engineer on a large scale. This study looks at the possibility of conducting anaerobic gas-phase biotreatment of TCE...