• KSBB Journal
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.550-560
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• 1999

There have been many research efforts on biofilter modeling including Ottengraf et al. who derived a model equation for the concentration profile of pollutants(e.g., VOCs) in the biolayer and solved their outlet concentration of the waste gas stream through biofilter. However, for most of research works done so far, the effects to explain the effect of adsorption of organic particles to medium(i.e., adsorbent) have been ignored. In this work biofilter modeling accompanying process lumping has been proposed and the theoretical effect of adsorption property of the medium, on the biofilter performance of eliminating organic components in waste gas stream, is intensively discussed.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.155-161
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• 2012

A dynamic biofilter model was suggested to integrate the effect of biofilter-medium adsorption capacity on the removal efficiency of volatile organic compound (VOC) contained in waste air. In particular, the suggested biofilter model is composed of four components such as biofilm, gas phase, sorption volume and adsorption phase and is capable of predicting the unsteady behavior of biofilter-operation. The process-lumping model previously suggested was limited in the application for the treatment of waste air since it was derived under the assumption that the adsorbed amount of VOC equilibrated with biofilter-media would be proportional to the concentration of dissolved VOC in the sorption volume of biofilter-media. Therefore a Freundlich adsorption isotherm was integrated into a robust biofilter process-lumping model applicable to a wide range of VOC concentration. The values of model parameters related to biofilter-medium adsorption were obtained from the dynamic adsorption column experiments in the preceding article and literature survey. Furthermore a separate biofilter experiment was conducted to treat waste air containing ethanol and the experimental result was compared with the model predictions with various values of Thiele modulus (${\phi}$). The obtained value of Thiele modulus (${\phi}$) was close to 0.03.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.501-506
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• 2000

A bench-scale air biofilter was evaluated for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a gas stream. Compost and peat were used as the biological attachment media. Biofilter operating parameters such as incoming VOCs concentrations, temperature, and packing materials were examined. After 26 days of acclimation periods, at 25$^{\circ}C$ and 45$^{\circ}C$, the biofilter removed more than 90% of 30 to 72 mg/㎥ of total VOC. After 40 days of operation, the concentrations of isoprene, toluene, and m-xylene were reduced to 96∼99, 91∼93, and 91∼93% of the original concentrations. VOC removal efficiency was not affected by the temperature. The medium pH was maintained near neutral (pH 6.5∼7.1). After 37 days of operation, the total bacteria count in the biofilter media increased to 1.12${\times}$10(sup)8 cells/g of medium.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.209-215
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• 2012

The performance and removal efficiencies of a pilot scale biofilter were estimated by using ammonia and hydrogen sulfide as the odorous gases. Expanded polyurethane foam coated with powdered activated carbon and zeolite was used as a biofilm supporting medium in the biofilter. Odorous gases from the sludge thickener of a municipal wastewater treatment plant were treated in the biofilter for 10 months and the inlet ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations were 0.1-1.5 and 2-20 ppmv, respectively. The removal efficiencies reached about 100% at the empty bed retention time (EBRT) of 3.6-5 seconds except for the adaptation periods. The pressure drop of the biofilter caused by the gas flow was also low that the maximum attained was 31 mm $H_2O$ during the operation. Its stability was confirmed in the long term due to the fact that the biofilter and the polyurethane medium had a minimum plugging and compression. The microbial community on the medium is critical for the performance of the biofilter especially the distribution of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and sulfur oxidizing bacteria (SOB). The distribution of Nitrosomonas sp. (AOB) and Thiobacillus ferroxidans (SOB) was confirmed by FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis. The longer the operation time, the more microbial population observed. Also, the medium close to the gas inlet had more microbial population than the medium at the gas outlet of the biofilter.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.599-606
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• 1998

Removal of toluene vapor from airstreams was studied in a biological reactor known as a biofilter. The biofilter was packed porous ceramic inoculated with thickened activated sludge (MLVSS 17,683 mg/L). The lab-scale biofilter was operated for 42 days under various experimental conditions including inlet toluene concentrations and flow rates of the contaminated air streams. Removal efficiency reached up 96.6% after 4 days from start up. Nutrient limitation was proposed as a reason for the decrease in biofilter performence. Biofilter performance decreased substantially, coincident with the buildup of back pressure due to accumulation of excess VSS within the medium bed. Practically, the bed needs to be backwashed when the overall pressure drop is greater than 460.6 Pa at SV (Space Velocity) 100 h-1. Periodic backwashing of the biofilter was necessary for removing excess biomass and attaining stable long -term high removal efficiency The removal efficiency of toluene in the biofilter decreased as the gas velocity and toluene concentration in the inlet gas increased. The maximum elimination capacity of ceramic biofilter could reach up to 444.85 g/m3. hr. When the loading of toluene exceed this critical value, substrate inhibition occurred.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.1327-1331
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• 2002

The cork have been preferred over the conventional materials, zeolite, ceramics, and lignite as a biofilter medium. During the 6 months of operation, the performance of the cork biofilter was considered good with 150ppm of mixture BTX vapor efficiencies greater than 90% at 60 second of EBCT. It was observed 56 % of removal efficiency under transition conditions at first stage, and then the removal efficiency was increased to above 90 %, and the sustainability of removal efficiency was maintained. At second stage, the performance of cork biofilter was not decreased 90 % efficiency with 150 ppm BTX at 30 sec. EBCT. The production of $CO_2$ due to microbial respiration was increased to the 40 % on the operation of cork biofilter.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.977-983
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• 2005

The removal characteristics of ethyl acetate and 2-butanol were investigated in a bench-scale down-flow biofilter packed with Jeju scoria medium. Various inlet concentrations and gas flow rates were tested. The adaptation times of microorganisms to the change of the influent concentration of ethyl acetate and 2-butanol gas were found to be about 3 days. At the inlet concentration of 300 ppmv and empty bed contact time (EBCT) of 15 see, the removal efficiencies of the biofilter for ethyl acetate and 2-butanol were above $99.9\%$. The maximum removal capacity of the biofilter for ethyl acetate was $316-318\;g/m^3/h$ and that for 2-butanol was $245-251\;g/m^3/h$. Overall, the removal capacity of the biofilter for ethyl acetate was $50-70\;g/m^3/h$ larger than that for 2-butanol. During the operation of 65 days, the pressure drop through the biofilter column was maintained below $13\;mmH_{2}O/m$. Although the pH in the drain water decreased from 7.2 to 5.0, the pH drop did not affect the removal of the gases. From the above results, the biofilter using Jeju scoria as a packing material seemed to very effectively treat waste gases such as ethyl acetate and 2-butanol.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.71-75
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• 1996

A bacterium, capable of the degradation of trimethylamine(TMA), dimethylamine, and methylamine, was isolated from an enrichment culture on TMA basal mineral medium. The isolate was identified as Methylobacterium some carbon-carbon bonds compounds like malate, succinate, betaine. When the strain was immobilized to earthworm cast, the biofilter could remove the gaseous TMA of SV $30h^{-1}$, concentration of 120ppm, continuously.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.149-154
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• 2012

The adsorption and desorption behavior of biofilter-medium was investigated on the performance of an adsorption column. Continuous flow-isothermal adsorption experiments were performed to treat waste air containing such a VOC as ethanol under the same condition of > 90% relative humidity as the condition of the feed to a biofilter process. In case of feeding waste air containing ethanol of 1,000 ppmv (or 2,050 mg ethanol/$m^3$) to the adsorption system at the rate of 2 L/min, the onsets of its breakthrough and reaching the state of dynamic equilibrium at the exit had been delayed 10 and 3 times, respectively, later than those at the 1st stage sampling port. Moreover, in case of 2,000 ppmv (or 4,100 mg ethanol/$m^3$), they had been delayed 9 and 3 times, respectively. Thus, regardless of feeding concentration, the ratios of delaying period were observed to be quite consistent each other at the exit of the adsorption column. With regard to the period of desorption, the ratios of delaying period were consistent each other to be 1.5 for both cases. In addition, the effect of microbial activity and sterilization-process was studied on adsorption equilibrium. The ethanol concentration in the vapor phase of vials packed with sterilized granular activated carbon (GAC) was quite consistent to that with unsterilized GAC. However, the ethanol concentrations in the vapor phase of vials packed with unsterilized compost and the unsterilized mixture of GAC and compost were higher than those with sterilized compost and the sterilized mixture of GAC and compost, respectively.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.195-200
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• 2007

Management of odors is essential to swine industry in the Republic of Korea. This study was conducted to evaluate the odor removal efficiency of biofilter ducting systems. Rice straw and auto clave concrete(ALC) were used as filter medium. The ventilation fans(5 units, diameter: 500 mm) at the side wall of a growing pig housing were connected to a biofilter using a duct. The size of a biofilter is $2.5{\times}2{\times}1.2(W{\times}L{\times}H)$. The air velocities at the 300 mm above rice straw and ALC were 0.77 and 0.56 m/s, respectively. Ammonia concentration at the outlet of rice straw and ALC media were 2 and 3 ppm, respectively. Dust concentrations were also measured. The dust concentrations of rice straw and ALC were 93, $32\;mg/m^3$, respectively. There was no significant difference between filter mediums in terms of carbon dioxide concentrations(rice straw: 320, ALC: 270 mg/l). The concentration of hydrogen sulfide was stable over the experimentation. The actual concentrations of hydrogen sulfide were 4, 3 and 3 ppm at the days of 7, 21 and 36, respectively. These results suggest that biofilter ducting systems may remove odors from pig house effectively.