Different scenarios for improving hydrophobic VOCs elimination in trickle-bed-air-biofilters

The removal of hydrophobic compounds by biofiltration using different techniques was studied using n-hexane as a model compound. The different techniques used include the introduction of surfactant in the nutrient feed, use in mixture with benzene, change of medium from bacteria to fungi, and in mixture with methanol. The VOC chosen were n-hexane, benzene, and methanol. Surfactant enhanced the biodegradation process of n-hexane in the biofilter and provided stable performance as compared to biodegradation of n-hexane alone using bacteria. Using fungi greatly enhanced the performance of biofilter degrading n-hexane. The data confirmed the supremacy of fungi over bacteria for degrading n-hexane. The change of the medium from bacteria to fungi by providing acidic nutrient buffers was very effective in biofiltration of hydrophobic VOC. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 105th AWMA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2012 (San Antonio, TX 6/19-22/2012).