A Bioreactor for the Effective Removal of the Hydrogen Sulfide from Biogas

A two-stage bioreactor system using sulfur-oxidizing bacteria was studied to abate high strength hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) from biogas. The two-stage bioreactor consisted of a $H_2S$ absorption column (0.5 L) and a microbial oxidation column (1 L) in series, and the liquid medium was continuously recirculated through the columns. The objectives of this study were to determine the feasibility of the bioreactor for biogas desulfurization and to investigate the effect of the medium circulation rate on the system performance. An averaged concentration of $H_2S$ introduced to the bioreactor was 530 ppm, corresponding to an overall loading rate of $44.4g/m^3/hr$. During the initial 20 days period at the medium recirculation rate of 8 reactor volumes per hour (12 L/hr), the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the oxidation column was 6 mg/L, while the DO in the absorption column was 0.5 mg/L showing that the oxygen contents of the biogas stream was not altered. Because of the biological oxidation of $H_2S$ in the oxidation column, the sulfate concentration increased from 200 mg/L to 5,600 mg/L in the liquid medium. The removal efficiency of $H_2S$ was greater than 99% in the initial operation period. After the initial period, the medium recirculation rate between the two columns was stepwise changed eight times from 1.0 to 40 vol/hr (1.5~60 L/hr). At the recirculation rate of faster than 4 vol/hr, the $H_2S$ removal efficiencies were found to be high, but the efficiency declined at the lower recirculation rates than the threshold.

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