A Study on the Reduction Process of VOCs Emission from Paint Booth - A Hybrid Process of Biotrickling Filter and Activated Sludge Reactor

A novel hybrid system composed of a biotrickling filter and an activated sludge reactor was investigated under the conditions of four different SRTs (sludge retention times). The performance of the hybrid reactor was found to be directly comparable among the four different sludge ages. Discernible differences in the removal performance were observed among four different SRTs of 2, 4, 6, and 8 days. High removal efficiency was achieved by continuous circulation of activated sludge over the immobilized mixture culture, which allowed on pH control, addition of nutrients, and removal of paint VOCs (volatile organic compounds). The results also showed that the removal efficiency for a given pollutant depends on the activity of microorganisms based on the SRT. As the SRT increased gradually from 2 to 8 days, the average removal performance decreased. The highest removal rate was achieved at the SRT of 2 days at which the highest OUR (oxygen uptake rate), $6.1mg-O_2/liter-min$ was measured. Biological activity in the recycle microbes decreased to a much lower level, $3.6mg-O_2/liter-min$ at a SRT of 8 days. It is thus believed that young microorganisms were more active and more efficient for the VOCs removal of low concentrations and high flow rates. The apparent correlation of $R^2=0.996$ between the average removal efficiency and the average OUR at each SRTs suggests that VOCs degradation by young cells significantly affected the overall removal efficiency for the tested SRTs.