Biogas biodesulfurization by an anoxic biotrickling filter packed with open pore polyurethane foam at the laboratory scale (packed volume 2.4L) has been studied. The biotrickling system was operated for 620 days with biogas supplied continuously and two nitrate feeding regimes were tested (manual and programmed). Biomass immobilization was carried out under the manual nitrate feeding regime and...

Most coupled or combined processes use a fixed film reactor in series with a suspended growth reactor. In combined processes, the fixed film reactor usually consists of a biological tower. The suspended growth reactor is generally an aeration basin or small contact channel. Other types of combined processes have been used where rotating biological contactors (RBC’s), lagoons, or other treatment...

This paper discusses current technological improvements related to a compact system comprised by UASB reactor and sponge-bed trickling filter (SBTF) as a potential alternative for decentralized sewage treatment systems in developing countries. The proposed improvements deal with some inherent constraints of the anaerobic treatment and seek to improve the design and operational strategies focusi...

In a previous communication, Sheets et al. (1954) have shown that three phenol-resistant organisms, a sporeforming rod, a coccus and a short rod, belonging to the genera Bacillus, Micrococcus and Pseudomonas respectively, were isolated from a trickling filter, operated continuously at 54 C for the treatment of phenolic wastes. The Pseudomonas-like rod predominated over the other two types. A pu...

A detailed analysis of a biotrickling filter treating trichloroethene (TCE) vapors anaerobically is presented and discussed. The biotrickling filter relies on mixed cultures containing bacteria from the genus Dehalococcoides that reductively dechlorinate TCE to ethene. After about 200 days of steady operation, as biomass in the packed bed increased, a partial loss in treatment performance was o...

We investigated the removal of nitrogen and phosphate from the effluent of a sewage treatment plant over a long-term operation in bioreactors packed with different combinations of wood and iron, with a trickling filter packed with foam ceramics for nitrification. The average nitrification rate in the trickling filter was 0.17 kg N/m3∙day and remained at 0.11 kg N/m3∙day even when the water temp...