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Alkaline biofiltration of H2S odors.

Publication ,  Journal Article
González-Sánchez, A; Revah, S; Deshusses, MA
Published in: Environmental science & technology
October 2008

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 benefit of reduced mass transfer limitations at alkaline pH. In the present paper, an alkaliphilic sulfoxidizing bacterial consortium was deployed in a laboratory-scale biotrickling filter treating H2S at pH 10. The gas contact time ranged from 1 to 6 s, and H2S inlet concentrations, from 2.5 to 18 ppm(v). The results showed that under most conditions, H2S removal exceeded 98% and the degradation end-product was sulfate. At the highest H2S concentrations and shortest gas contacttimes, when the loading exceeded 30 g m(-3) h(-1), the H2S removal efficiency decreased significantly due to biological reaction limitation, and incompletely oxidized sulfides were measured in the trickling liquid. An analysis of the process demonstrated that operating the biotrickling filter at high pH results in an enhancement of the mass transfer by a factor of 1700-11 000. Overall, alkaline biotrickling filtration was shown to be very effective at low concentration of H2S and very short gas contact time. This is the first demonstration of a biotrickling filter for air pollution control operated at high pH.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

October 2008

Volume

42

Issue

19

Start / End Page

7398 / 7404

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Sulfur
  • Sulfides
  • Odorants
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Hydrogen Sulfide
  • Filtration
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Biodegradation, Environmental
  • Bacteria
 

Citation

APA
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ICMJE
MLA
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González-Sánchez, A., Revah, S., & Deshusses, M. A. (2008). Alkaline biofiltration of H2S odors. Environmental Science & Technology, 42(19), 7398–7404. https://doi.org/10.1021/es800437f
González-Sánchez, Armando, Sergio Revah, and Marc A. Deshusses. “Alkaline biofiltration of H2S odors.Environmental Science & Technology 42, no. 19 (October 2008): 7398–7404. https://doi.org/10.1021/es800437f.
González-Sánchez A, Revah S, Deshusses MA. Alkaline biofiltration of H2S odors. Environmental science & technology. 2008 Oct;42(19):7398–404.
González-Sánchez, Armando, et al. “Alkaline biofiltration of H2S odors.Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 42, no. 19, Oct. 2008, pp. 7398–404. Epmc, doi:10.1021/es800437f.
González-Sánchez A, Revah S, Deshusses MA. Alkaline biofiltration of H2S odors. Environmental science & technology. 2008 Oct;42(19):7398–7404.
Journal cover image

Published In

Environmental science & technology

DOI

EISSN

1520-5851

ISSN

0013-936X

Publication Date

October 2008

Volume

42

Issue

19

Start / End Page

7398 / 7404

Related Subject Headings

  • Temperature
  • Sulfur
  • Sulfides
  • Odorants
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Hydrogen Sulfide
  • Filtration
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Biodegradation, Environmental
  • Bacteria