Impact of Biocatalyst and Moisture Content on Toluene/Xylene Mixture Biofiltration

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the influence of microbial inoculation on degradation efficiency. Three biofilters were used for the treatment of waste gas. A mixture of compost and perlite (8:2) served as the packing material. One biofilter was inoculated with a constructed microbial population. The second remained uninoculated, having the natural population present in the compost. The third biofilter was uninoculated and the packing material was sterilized. The degradation ability of the uninoculated biofilter started to drop after 18 days, while the removal efficiency of inoculated biofilter was stable. The sterile biofilter proved to have no removal efficiency. Moisture content of the packing and ability of the packing to keep moisture was tested. The results showed a significant dependence of the degradation efficiency on the packing moisture content, with highest removal efficiency observed at 70 % moisture content.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Biofiltration; Constructed Mixed Population; Moisture Content; Pollutant Mixture

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2006 Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2006

Link to Full Text

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