Behavior of field-scale biotrickling filter under nonsteady state conditions

The performance of a field-scale biotrickling filter was investigated for the treatment of styrene vapors released from a bathtub manufacturing process. The two-stage biotrickling filter was operated in series with an average gas flow rate of 350 m3 h-1 corresponding to an overall empty bed gas contact time of 84 s. Daily average values of styrene removal efficiency varied from 40 to 90% with inlet concentrations ranging between 0.4 and 1.7 g m-3. System performance was not significantly affected by changes in temperature and was moderately susceptible to 3-day starvation or complete system shutdown. After 7 months of styrene treatment, toluene contaminated air was fed to the system and experiments were performed in which styrene and toluene were fed alternately at 3-h intervals. While styrene elimination remained unchanged over the cycles, the elimination capacity of toluene increased with the number of cycles, indicating some adaptation of the process culture to the new contaminant. Overall, the results suggest that biotrickling filters for air pollution control can be successful even under greatly varying operating conditions. © ASCE / MARCH 2004.

Duke Scholars

Author Marc Deshusses Civil and Environmental Engineering