0000000000222177
AUTHOR
Guillermo Quijano
Current challenges and perspectives in gas fluxes biotreatment
Abstract Nowadays, there is a wide variety of bioreactor configurations to treat specific pollutants from gas streams; however, biotechnologies share benchmark aspects that are herein described. In this chapter, the reader is introduced to the biological gas treatment field by means of a historical overview on how the initial devices used for gas treatment evolved to the innovative systems that are currently applied worldwide. The technical and operational fundamentals of biofilters, biotrickling filters, bioscrubbers, and emerging technologies such as two-phase partitioning bioreactors, multistage systems, and membranes are included. Perspectives and key research niches in the field are al…
Enhanced styrene removal in a two-phase partitioning bioreactor operated as a biotrickling filter: Towards full-scale applications
Abstract Styrene vapor abatement was investigated in a two-phase partitioning bioreactor operated as a biotrickling filter (TPPB-BTF). The removal performance of the TPPB-BTF was simultaneously compared with a conventional BTF, which served as a control. Industrial-grade silicone oil was used as the non-aqueous phase in the TPPB-BTF due to its high affinity for styrene. Both bioreactors were operated at styrene inlet concentrations ranging from 55 to 323 mg C m −3 and empty bed residence times (EBRT) of 15–30 s, corresponding to pollutant loading rates of 13–77 g C m −3 h −1 . Both bioreactors exhibited styrene removal efficiencies (REs) higher than 90% at an EBRT of 30 s. Nevertheless, th…
Biotrickling filter modeling for styrene abatement. Part 2: Simulating a two-phase partitioning bioreactor.
Abstract A dynamic model describing styrene abatement was developed for a two-phase partitioning bioreactor operated as a biotrickling filter (TPPB-BTF). The model was built as a coupled set of two different systems of partial differential equations depending on whether an irrigation or a non-irrigation period was simulated. The maximum growth rate was previously calibrated from a conventional BTF treating styrene (Part 1). The model was extended to simulate the TPPB-BTF based on the hypothesis that the main change associated with the non-aqueous phase is the modification of the pollutant properties in the liquid phase. The three phases considered were gas, a water–silicone liquid mixture, …
Fully aerobic bioscrubber for the desulfurization of H2S-rich biogas
Abstract A fully aerobic bioscrubber for the desulfurization of H2S-rich biogas was developed in the present study by coupling an absorption column and a bubble column bioreactor. The bioscrubber treated H2S loading rates of 37, 59, and 100 g S mliquid−3 h−1 at gas residence times of 6.6, 4.1 and 2.4 min in the absorption column, respectively. Stable H2S removal efficiencies above 80% were recorded at all the conditions tested. The bioscrubber was robust towards short- and long-term operation shutdowns (5 and 18 days), the H2S removal performance being recovered after few hours. The aerated bubble column bioreactor was operated at slightly alkaline conditions (pH 8 ± 0.5), which prevented H…
Effect of the height-to-diameter ratio on the mass transfer and mixing performance of a biotrickling filter
BACKGROUND Biotrickling filters (BTFs) are among the most widely used biological technologies for air pollution control. The pollutant removal rate in BTFs relies to a large extent on its gas–liquid mass transfer performance. Therefore, knowledge of the design parameters affecting the mass transfer and mixing performance of full-scale BTFs is of paramount importance. RESULTS This work showed that the height-to-diameter (H/D) ratio is an important parameter in the design of BTFs devoted to air pollution control. The H/D ratio significantly affected the mass transfer and mixing performance of the BTF with and without additional stirring in the holding tank. It was observed that under the same…