Pollutant degradation in biotrickling ®lters for waste air treatment is generally thought to occur only in the bio®lm. In two experiments with toluene degrading biotrickling ®lters, we show that suspended microorganisms in the recycle liquid may substantially contribute to the overall pollutant removal. Two days after reactor start up, the overall toluene elimination capacity reached a maximum ...

Background: The behaviour of two biotrickling filters connected in serie (BTF) inoculated with Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Thiobacillus thioparus, biodegrading hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and dimethyl sulphide (DMS) simultaneously were studied. A model which considers gas to liquid mass transfer and biooxidation in the biofilm attached to the support is developed. Additionally, a fixed bed bi...

Laboratory scale-studies on the biodegradation of a 1:1:1 wt mixture of three oxygenated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ethanol, ethyl acetate and methyl-ethyl ketone (MEK) in a biotrickling filter were carried out using two identically sized columns, filled with different polypropylene rings. The reactors were seeded with a two-month preconditioned culture from activated sludge. The perfor...

High efficiency of NH3 and H2S removal from waste gases was achieved by the biotrickling filter. Granular activated carbon (GAC), inoculated with Arthrobacter oxydans CH8 for NH3 removal and Pseudomonas putida CH11 for H2S removal, was used as packing material. Under conditions in which 100% H2S was removed, extensive tests to eliminate high concentrations of NH3 emission-including removal char...