Effect of substrate composition on the stability and microbial community of an anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed reactor treating printing solvent mixtures of ethanol and glycol ethers

Abstract The performance and microbial community analysis of an expanded granular sludge bed reactor (EGSB) treating wastewater polluted with mixtures of ethanol and glycol ethers –such as 1-ethoxy-2-propanol (E2P) and 1-methoxy-2-propanol (M2P)– were evaluated. The results showed good EGSB performance during start-up (100% of ethanol) in terms of global removal efficiency (RE > 95%). When glycol ethers were added, an initial adaptation period was observed of ~20 days. While the RE of M2P became complete, the RE of E2P reached only 65%. The proportion of glycol ethers was gradually increased and at the end of this study only a binary mixture of E2P and M2P was fed. In the last stage, the gl…

Anaerobic removal of 1-methoxy-2-propanol under ambient temperature in an EGSB reactor

Two laboratory-scale expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors were operated at 18 and 25 °C, respectively, for the treatment of synthetic wastewater composed of ethanol and 1-methoxy-2-propanol (M2P) in a mass ratio of 4:1. Reactors were operated first with continuous wastewater supply and after with discontinuous substrate supply (5 days a week, 16 h a day) to simulate shift working conditions. Under continuous wastewater supply chemical oxygen demand (COD), removal efficiency higher than 95 % was achieved at the end of the trial applying organic loading rates (OLR) of 29 and 43 kg COD m(-3) day(-1) at 18 and 25 °C; thus, corresponding to M2P OLR of 6.4 and 9.3 kg COD m(-3) day(-1), re…

Biofiltration of ethyl acetate under continuous and intermittent loading

A laboratory-scale peat biofilter was used for ethyl acetate removal from an air stream over a period lasting 1 yr. In a first stage, the biofilter was operated under continuous mode: a maximum elimination capacity of 400 g m−3 h−1 was obtained, and ethyl acetate was efficiently degraded with empty bed residence time (EBRT) as short as 22 s. The estimated yield coefficient, determined from the carbon dioxide production, resulted in 0.42 g dry biomass produced per gram of ethyl acetate consumed. The living and the dead cell concentrations were also monitored. The dead cell percentages varied between 18 and 85%, progressive increases in the dead cell percentages were achieved as EBRT decrease…

Mathematical modeling of the biofiltration of ethyl acetate and toluene and their mixture

Abstract A dynamic model for ethyl acetate and toluene removal by biofiltration is presented. Haldane-type kinetic expressions that include the oxygen limitation, the inhibition effect due to high concentration of substrate, and the cross-inhibition between substrates have been considered. A decrease in the biomass density with the bed height was proposed to represent the performance of peat biofilters over a broad range of operating conditions. Experimental yield coefficients have been derived from the experimental CO 2 production data. The unknown kinetic parameters of the model along with the coefficient for axial biomass density distribution were calibrated using experimental data from …

Removal of TEX vapours from air in a peat biofilter: influence of inlet concentration and inlet load

This paper presents the results of the study of the removal of toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene (TEX) by biofiltration using a commercial peat as filter-bed material. Runs with a single organic compound in air, and with the mixture of TEX in air, were carried out for at least 55 days in laboratory-scale reactors inoculated with a conditioned culture. The influence of organic compound inlet load and of gas flow rate on the biofilter's performance was studied, including relatively high values of pollutant inlet concentration (up to 4.3 gC m−3 for ethylbenzene, 3.2 gC m−3 for toluene, and 2.7 gC m−3 for o-xylene). Results obtained show maximum elimination capacities of 65 gC m−3 h−1 for o-x…

Long-term performance of peat biofilters treating ethyl acetate, toluene, and its mixture in air.

Three laboratory-scale peat biofilters were operated at 90 s empty bed residence time (EBRT) for over a year. Biodegradation of ethyl acetate, toluene, or a 1:1 mixture were investigated. In first stage, inlet concentration was progressively increased from 0.4 to 4.5 g/m3. The maximum elimination capacity (EC) found for ethyl acetate was 190 gC/m3·h, and it was not affected by toluene. The maximum EC found for toluene as a sole contaminant was 150 gC/m3·h, but the presence of ethyl acetate decreased the toluene maximum EC to 80 gC/m3·h. From respirometry monitoring, values of 3.19 g CO2/gC and 3.06 g CO2/gC for pure ethyl acetate and pure toluene, respectively, were found, with overall yiel…

Control of VOCs from printing press air emissions by anaerobic bioscrubber: Performance and microbial community of an on-site pilot unit

Abstract A novel process consisted of an anaerobic bioscrubber was studied at the field scale for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from a printing press facility. The pilot unit worked under high fluctuating waste gas emissions containing ethanol, ethyl acetate, and 1-ethoxy-2-propanol as main pollutants, with airflows ranging between 184 and 1253 m 3  h −1 and an average concentration of 1126 ± 470 mg-C Nm −3 . Three scrubber configurations (cross-flow and vertical-flow packings and spray tower) were tested, and cross-flow packing was found to be the best one. For this packing, daily average values of VOC removal efficiency ranged between 83% and 93% for liquid to a…

Comparative study of degassing membrane modules for the removal of methane from Expanded Granular Sludge Bed anaerobic reactor effluent

Abstract The feasibility of an emergent technology for in situ removal/recovery of methane from the effluent of an Expanded Granular Sludge Bed (EGSB) anaerobic reactor has been studied. For this purpose, the performances of two commercial hollow fibre degassing contactors with different membrane materials – microporous (polypropylene, PP) and non-porous (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) – were compared. The influence of water fluxes (Q L /A membrane ranging from 22.6 to 377.4 L h −1  m −2 ), vacuum pressure (140–800 mbar), sweep gas fluxes (Q N2 /A membrane ranging from 0.14 × 10 3 to 4.44 × 10 3  L h −1  m −2 ), and mode of operation (liquid flowing in the lumen side or the shell side) was stu…

Study of Mass Oxygen Transfer in a Biotrickling Filter for Air Pollution Control

Biotrickling filtration is a potential and cost effective alternative for the treatment of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in air, so it is necessary to deepen into the key aspects of design and operation for the optimization of this technology. One of these factors is the oxygen mass transfer of the process. This study would facilitate the selection of the packing material and the mathematical modelling and simulation of bioreactors. Four plastic packing materials with a different specific surface area have been evaluated in terms of oxygen mass transfer. For the tested range of superficial liquid velocities, data show a relationship between the kLa and the superficial liquid vel…

Aspen Plus process-simulation model: Producing biogas from VOC emissions in an anaerobic bioscrubber

A process-simulation model for a novel process consisted of an anaerobic bioscrubber was developed in Aspen Plus®. A novel approach was performed to implement the anaerobic reactor in the simulation, enabling it to be connected to the scrubber. The model was calibrated and validated using data from an industrial prototype that converted air emissions polluted with volatile organic compounds with an average daily concentration of 1129 mgC Nm−3 into bioenergy for more than one year. The scrubber, which showed a removal efficiency within 83-93%, was successfully predicted with an average absolute relative error of 5.2 ± 0.08% using an average height-to-theoretical-plate value of 1.05 ± 0.08 m …

Biofiltration of ethylbenzene vapours: influence of the packing material.

In order to investigate suitable packing materials, a soil amendment composed of granular high mineralized peat (35% organic content) locally available has been evaluated as carrier material for biofiltration of volatile organic compounds in air by comparison with a fibrous peat (95% organic content). Both supports were tested to eliminate ethylbenzene from air streams in laboratory-scale reactors inoculated with a two-month conditioned culture. In pseudo-steady state operation, experiments at various ethylbenzene inlet loads (ILs) were carried out. Maximum elimination capacity of about 120 g m(-3) h(-1) for an IL of 135 g m(-3) h(-1) was obtained for the fibrous peat. The soil amendment re…

Biological nitrate removal from wastewater of a metal-finishing industry

An upflow packed bed reactor at laboratory scale has been operated for a continuous period of 5 months to investigate the technical feasibility of biological nitrate removal applied to the effluent of the coagulation-sedimentation wastewater of a metal-finishing industry. The reactor was fed with industrial wastewater in a five-fold dilution to reproduce the global spill in the factory (20/80, industrial wastewater/domestic wastewater) with a concentration of nitrate between 141 and 210 gNO(3)-N/m(3). Methanol was added as a carbon source for denitrification. Inlet flow rate was progressively increased from 9 to 40 L/day (nitrogen input load from 45 to 250 gNO(3)-N/(m(3)h)). The highest obs…

Evaluation of a pilot-scale biotrickling filter as a VOC control technology for the plastic coating sector

Abstract The performance and feasibility of a biotrickling filter (BTF) pilot unit for the treatment of exhaust gases from two robotic spray paint booths at a plastic coating facility were investigated. The volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations in the emissions of the exhaust gases from the paint booths were relatively stable, although the VOC composition depended on the applied solvent-paint formulation in the booths. The pilot plant was operated for one year at empty bed residence times (EBRTs) ranging from 30 to 93 s. The performance of the system was affected by the solvent-paint formulations. An EBRT between 30 and 40 s was enough to meet legal requirements for products contai…

Influence of ground tire rubber on the transient loading response of a peat biofilter

Abstract The effect of using ground tire rubber (GTR) as an adsorptive material in the removal of a 2:1:1 weight mixture of n-butyl acetate, toluene and m-xylene by using a peat biofilter under different intermittent conditions was investigated. The performance of two identical size biofilters, one packed with fibrous peat alone and the other with a 3:1 (vol) fibrous peat and GTR mixture, was examined for a period of four months. Partition coefficients of both materials were measured. Values of 53, 118 and 402 L kg −1 were determined for n-butyl acetate, toluene and m-xylene in peat, respectively; and values of 40, 609 and 3035 L kg −1 were measured for the same compounds in GTR. Intermitte…

Fermentation of municipal primary sludge: effect of SRT and solids concentration on volatile fatty acid production

Laboratory bench-scale experiments were conducted to investigate the performance of primary sludge fermentation for volatile fatty acids production. Primary sludges from two major wastewater treatment plants located in Valencia (Pinedo and Carraixet) were used. Experiments were performed at solids retention times between 4 and 10 days, and total volatile solids concentrations between 0.6% and 2.8%. Operation at two temperatures (20 degrees C and 30 degrees C) was also checked. Results indicated the importance of feed sludge characteristics on volatile fatty acids yields, being approximately double for the Carraixet wastewater treatment plant sludge than for the Pinedo plant. In both cases, …

Anaerobic degradation of glycol ether-ethanol mixtures using EGSB and hybrid reactors: Performance comparison and ether cleavage pathway.

Abstract The anaerobic biodegradation of ethanol-glycol ether mixtures as 1-ethoxy-2-propanol (E2P) and 1-methoxy-2-propanol (M2P), widely used in printing facilities, was investigated by means of two laboratory-scale anaerobic bioreactors at 25oC: an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor and an anaerobic hybrid reactor (AHR), which incorporated a packed bed to improve biomass retention. Despite AHR showed almost half of solid leakages compared to EGSB, both reactors obtained practically the same performance for the operating conditions studied with global removal efficiencies (REs) higher than 92% for organic loading rates (OLRs) as high as 54 kg of chemical oxygen demand (COD) m−3 d…

Comparison between laboratory and pilot biotrickling filtration of air emissions from painting and wood finishing

BACKGROUND: Painting and wood finishing is one industrial sector affected by the European Union environmental regulations on volatile organic compound (VOC) air emissions. The painting process typically results in high flow rates with low VOC concentrations, so biotrickling filtration could be an economical alternative for controlling air emissions. This study analyses the operation of a pilot unit installed in a furniture facility, and compares its performance with the removal efficiency obtained in the laboratory using a synthetic feed composed of n-butyl acetate, toluene and m-xylene to simulate industrial air emissions. RESULTS: Laboratory studies showed that fluctuating and oscillating…

Control of VOC emissions from a flexographic printing facility using an industrial biotrickling filter.

The study of an industrial unit of biotrickling filter for the treatment of the exhaust gases of a flexographic facility was investigated over a 2-year period with the objective to meet the volatile organic compound (VOC) regulatory emission limits. Increasing the water flow rate from 2 to 40 m3 h−1 improved the performance of the process, meeting the VOC regulation when 40 m3 h−1 were used. An empty bed residence time (EBRT) of 36 s was used when the inlet air temperature was 18.7 °C, and an EBRT as low as 26 s was set when the inlet temperature was 26.8 °C. During this long-term operation, the pressure drop over the column of the bioreactor was completely controlled avoiding clogging prob…

Biofiltration of toluene in the absence and the presence of ethyl acetate under continuous and intermittent loading

BACKGROUND: Two peat biofilters were used for the removal of toluene from air for one year. One biofilter was fed with pure toluene and the other received 1:1 (by weight) ethyl acetate:toluene mixture. RESULTS: The biofilters were operated under continuous loading: the toluene inlet load (IL) at which 80% removal occurred was 116 g m−3 h−1 at 57 s gas residence time. Maximum elimination capacity of 360 g m−3 h−1 was obtained at an IL of 745 g m−3 h−1. The elimination of toluene was inhibited by the presence of ethyl acetate. Intermittent loading, with pollutants supplied for 16 h/day, 5 days/week, did not significantly affect the removal efficiency (RE). Biomass was fully activated in 2 h a…

Biotrickling Filters for Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds from Air in the Coating Sector

Full-scale biotrickling filtration of volatile organic compounds from air emission in wood-coating activities

BACKGROUND: Biotrickling filtration could be considered as a suitable and viable technology for controlling the industrial emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in waste gases. In this study, the performance of a full-scale biotrickling system, including a passively activated carbon-smoothing prefilter was investigated for the treatment of exhaust gases from two different paint spray sources at a furniture facility. RESULTS: The VOC profiles were uneven for both sources, but the second source was more irregular, with highly variable VOC loads. The plant was operated at empty bed residence times (EBRTs) between 20 and 100 s. The system was able to control the VOC emissions, so air t…

Isovaleraldehyde degradation using UV photocatalytic and dielectric barrier discharge reactors, and their combinations

International audience; The abatement of isovaleraldehyde present in air was carried out in UV photocatalytic and dielectric barrier discharge reactors (and their combinations) for concentrations up to 150 mg C m−3 and air flow rates ranging from 4 to 10 m3 h−1. A kinetic study was performed following a Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. Photocatalytic treatment of an isovaleraldehyde and isovaleric acid mixture showed a clear inhibition of isovaleric acid abatement in presence of isovaleraldehyde. Dielectric barrier discharge treatment of isovaleraldehyde showed an increase of removal efficiency with applied voltage and a decrease with air flow rate and inlet concentration. Moreover, introduction…

The combined effect on initial glucose concentration and pH control strategies for acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation by Clostridium acetobutylicum DSM 792

Abstract The use and depletion of fossil fuels raised the interest in biofuels like biobutanol. Clostridium acetobutylicum DSM 792 is capable of producing biobutanol through ABE fermentation. Butanol production can be influenced by low sugar concentrations, like those obtained after hydrolysis of pre-treated lignocellulosic biomass. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the initial glucose concentrations (33, 66 and 100 g L−1) and pH control strategies on biobutanol production and glucose consumption. Uncontrolled pH fermentation exhibited low butanol production due to either glucose exhaustion (33 g L−1) or the phenomenon of acid crash (66 and 100 g L−1), which was alleviated by th…

Anaerobic degradation of 2-propanol: Laboratory and pilot-scale studies

Abstract The anaerobic degradation of 2-propanol, an important industrial solvent, was scaled-up from batch assays to a pilot expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor at 25 °C. Batch studies indicated that 2-propanol followed Haldane kinetics, with a maximum rate at 10 g COD L −1 . Concentrations as high as 25 g COD L −1 did not inhibit the degradation of ethanol, a common co-solvent. Similar specific methanogenic activities (SMA) were obtained for water-solvent and water-brewery sludges (88 and 77 ml CH 4  g-VS −1  d −1 at 5 g COD L −1 ). Continuous degradation showed a lag-phase of three weeks with water-brewery sludge. Increases in 2-propanol load from 0.05 to 0.18 kg COD kg-VS −1  d …