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Treatment of munitions manufacturing airborne VOC`s by biofiltration

Conference ·
OSTI ID:625662
;  [1];  [2]
  1. MBI International, Lansing, MI (United States)
  2. Army Construction Engineering Research Lab., Champaign, IL (United States)
The US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory contracted MBI International to perform a biofiltration study of industrial waste gas streams. Phase I of the study was a laboratory investigation of the treatability of a specific gas stream. The laboratory study was concluded in September, 1995. Phase II was the design, placement and operation of a full-scale biofilter. The project was completed in August, 1996. The specific gas stream originates from a munitions drying operation at the Olin Chemical Company, Lake City, AAP, Independence, MO. The production line is a blank bullet coating operation in the production line, slats of blank ammunition are inverted and dipped into a coating material to seal the shell tips. The slats are then righted and moved into a drying box. The major solvent in the coating is ethyl acetate (70%) with about 30% of other solvent, such as, xylene and low molecular weight alcohols. The coating is thinned 50% with ethyl acetate, such that ethyl acetate represents more than 90% of the VOC load. The concentration of VOC`s is 400 ug/L at an air flow rate of 1000 ft{sup 3}/min. Laboratory results were collected on six test biofilter columns (15L). Steady state operations over a wide range of VOC loads were studied. The biofilters consistently destroyed 90-95% of the VOC`s. Square-wave dynamic loading cycles were studied to represent shift changes at the production facility. At high loadings, the biofilter performed well. At low organic loadings at applications of 5 hr/day of the gas stream, the filters required a small supplement of glucose to maintain column efficacy. A 1000 cubic foot bed volume, engineered media, biofilter was installed at Lake City AAP in January, 1996. The unit consists of a skid-mounted, class-1 division-1 explosion proof design including the blower package, biofilter media, nutrient addition, and automated VOC monitoring with PID. The unit was monitored for six months.
OSTI ID:
625662
Report Number(s):
CONF-9702113--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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