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Effect of starvation on the performance and re-acclimation of biotrickling filters for air pollution control.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Cox, HHJ; Deshusses, MA
Published in: Environmental science & technology
July 2002

Biotrickling filters for air pollution control are expected to encounter fluctuating conditions or periods without pollutant supply. In the present study, we investigated the effect of pollutant starvation in bench-scale biotrickling filters treating toluene. The experimental protocol consisted of starving biotrickling filters under various conditions: with or without airflow, with or without liquid recycle, and with or without an alternate carbon source (glucose) supply. The duration of the period without toluene was varied from 2 to 9 days, during time which the biotrickling filters were monitored for biomass content, endogenous and toluene-induced oxygen uptake rates during starvation, and toluene overall elimination capacity after restart. During starvation, all reactors lost their ability to degrade toluene within 5 days, regardless of the mode of starvation. The biomass content significantly decreased during starvation, in particular in those reactors where the recycle liquid was maintained, but this decrease was not critical for future re-acclimation. Glucose addition to starved biotrickling filters had several detrimental effects. It resulted in a faster decrease of the biomass content and slowed the reacclimation phase. Overall, the results show that the reacclimation of toluene-degrading biotrickling filters after periods of nonuse is short (10-24 h to re-establish full performance), and they suggest that, in the case of toluene-degrading biotrickling filters, re-acclimation time is largely governed by the induction of key pollutant-degrading enzymes.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

July 2002

Volume

36

Issue

14

Start / End Page

3069 / 3073

Related Subject Headings

  • Toluene
  • Solvents
  • Materials Testing
  • Glucose
  • Filtration
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Carbon
  • Bioreactors
  • Biomass
  • Bacteria
 

Citation

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MLA
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Cox, H. H. J., & Deshusses, M. A. (2002). Effect of starvation on the performance and re-acclimation of biotrickling filters for air pollution control. Environmental Science & Technology, 36(14), 3069–3073. https://doi.org/10.1021/es015693d
Cox, Huub H. J., and Marc A. Deshusses. “Effect of starvation on the performance and re-acclimation of biotrickling filters for air pollution control.Environmental Science & Technology 36, no. 14 (July 2002): 3069–73. https://doi.org/10.1021/es015693d.
Cox HHJ, Deshusses MA. Effect of starvation on the performance and re-acclimation of biotrickling filters for air pollution control. Environmental science & technology. 2002 Jul;36(14):3069–73.
Cox, Huub H. J., and Marc A. Deshusses. “Effect of starvation on the performance and re-acclimation of biotrickling filters for air pollution control.Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 36, no. 14, July 2002, pp. 3069–73. Epmc, doi:10.1021/es015693d.
Cox HHJ, Deshusses MA. Effect of starvation on the performance and re-acclimation of biotrickling filters for air pollution control. Environmental science & technology. 2002 Jul;36(14):3069–3073.
Journal cover image

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

July 2002

Volume

36

Issue

14

Start / End Page

3069 / 3073

Related Subject Headings

  • Toluene
  • Solvents
  • Materials Testing
  • Glucose
  • Filtration
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Carbon
  • Bioreactors
  • Biomass
  • Bacteria