U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
The influence of liquid flow rates on VOC removal in trickle-bed biofilters
Abstract
Liquid flow rates may affect both mass transfer processes and biological activities within the biofilm in trickle-bed biofilters. This study utilized diethyl ether as a volatile organic compound (VOC) substrate to investigate the effect of liquid flow rates on VOC removal in the biofiltration processes. Two trickle-bed biofilters with pelletized media were operated co-currently at nutrient liquid flow rates of 1 L/day and 20 L/day, respectively, with an empty bed retention time of 25 seconds and an ether loading rate of 8.9 Kg COD/m{sup 3}-day. With sufficient nutrients in the feed, the results mainly reflect the effect of liquid supply in the biofilters. Initially, liquid flow rates did not have a significant effect on ether removal during the first week of operation. Afterwards, ether removal improved significantly in the biofilter operating at the higher liquid flow rate. During this period, a biological differentiation among the two biofilters was observed. The biofilter operating at the higher liquid flow rate had a higher biomass growth rate. The biofilm from this column also had a higher phospholipid content, which represents the amount of live cells or biological activities. After the liquid flow rate between the two biofilters was switched later in the study,more »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (US)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 20002189
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-990608-
TRN: IM200002%%189
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Air and Waste 92nd Annual Meeting and Exhibition, St. Louis, MO (US), 06/20/1999--06/24/1999; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating Systems: Windows 3.1, '95, '98 and NT; Macintosh; and UNIX; PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: Air and Waste 92nd annual meeting and exhibition proceedings, [9500] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; INDUSTRIAL WASTES; WASTE PROCESSING; BIODEGRADATION; BIOREACTORS; PERFORMANCE; FLOW RATE; MASS TRANSFER; VOLATILE MATTER; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
Citation Formats
Zhu, X, Suidan, M T, Alonso, C, Kim, B J, Kim, B R, Lee, S H, and Yang, C. The influence of liquid flow rates on VOC removal in trickle-bed biofilters. United States: N. p., 1999.
Web.
Zhu, X, Suidan, M T, Alonso, C, Kim, B J, Kim, B R, Lee, S H, & Yang, C. The influence of liquid flow rates on VOC removal in trickle-bed biofilters. United States.
Zhu, X, Suidan, M T, Alonso, C, Kim, B J, Kim, B R, Lee, S H, and Yang, C. 1999.
"The influence of liquid flow rates on VOC removal in trickle-bed biofilters". United States.
@article{osti_20002189,
title = {The influence of liquid flow rates on VOC removal in trickle-bed biofilters},
author = {Zhu, X and Suidan, M T and Alonso, C and Kim, B J and Kim, B R and Lee, S H and Yang, C},
abstractNote = {Liquid flow rates may affect both mass transfer processes and biological activities within the biofilm in trickle-bed biofilters. This study utilized diethyl ether as a volatile organic compound (VOC) substrate to investigate the effect of liquid flow rates on VOC removal in the biofiltration processes. Two trickle-bed biofilters with pelletized media were operated co-currently at nutrient liquid flow rates of 1 L/day and 20 L/day, respectively, with an empty bed retention time of 25 seconds and an ether loading rate of 8.9 Kg COD/m{sup 3}-day. With sufficient nutrients in the feed, the results mainly reflect the effect of liquid supply in the biofilters. Initially, liquid flow rates did not have a significant effect on ether removal during the first week of operation. Afterwards, ether removal improved significantly in the biofilter operating at the higher liquid flow rate. During this period, a biological differentiation among the two biofilters was observed. The biofilter operating at the higher liquid flow rate had a higher biomass growth rate. The biofilm from this column also had a higher phospholipid content, which represents the amount of live cells or biological activities. After the liquid flow rate between the two biofilters was switched later in the study, their biofilm formation also switched gradually, and so did the ether removal efficiencies in the two biofilters. These results indicate that a higher liquid flow rate leads to an improved biofilter performance through the change of biofilm formation and the improvement of biological activities. The results can also be attributed to the nonsaturation feature of the biofilms in gas-phase trickle-bed biofilters.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/20002189},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1999},
month = {Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1999}
}