• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 1998

Controlling malodor originating from livestock feces has become a major issue, due to its influence on the health of man and livestock, together with its influences on atmospheric pollution. In this study, Five types of biofilters filled with saw-dust, night soil, fermented compost, leaf mold and a mixture(a compound of night soil, fermented compost and leaf mold at the same rates, respectively) were manufactured and tested. To study the effect of the biofilter on reducing malodor in a composting facility and swine building, a pilot scale composting facility enclosed with polyethylene film was constructed. Swine feces was composted in the facility and malodorous gas generated from the decomposition of organic matter in the feces was gathered by vacuum pump. Each biofilter achieved 87∼96% NH3 removal efficiency. This performance was maintained throughout 10 days of operation. The highest NH3 removal efficiency was achieved by leaf mold on the first day of operation period. It reduced the concentration of NH3 by about 96%. Night soil and fermented compost showed nearly equal performance of 93 to 94% for 10 days from the beginning of operation. The mixture achieved the lowest NH3 removal efficiency. It reduced NH3 concentration by about 89∼94% for 10 days from the beginning of operation. However NH3 removal efficiency of each biofilter declined with the passage of operational time. After 30 days from the beginning of operation, NH3 removal efficiency of each biofilter of each biofilter was below 60%, respectively. The concentration of H2S and CH3-SH originating from compost were equal to or less than 5mg/l and 3mg/l, respectively. After passing throughout the biofilter, the concentration of H2S and CH3-SH were not detected.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.7-16
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• 1999

The objective of this study is to recover the contaminated ditch by using a biofilter filled up with waste-concrete media and vegetation bed. Two systems were tested for elimination of organic compounds, turbidity, nitrogen and phosphate. System 1 is three-stage system which consisted of one biofilter and two vegetation bed, system 2 has three-stage system consisted of one biofilter, one vegetation bed (four bed), and one media trench operated in series. In system 1, HRT of biofilter was 4 hour, and Oenanthe javanica was planted in two vegetation bed. In system 2, HRT of biofilter was varied 2 hours and Persicaria chinensis was planted on the top of the biofilter. And Oenanthe javanica, Hydrocharis asiatica, Salvinia natans were planted in four bed of a vegetation bed and the second vegetation bed of system 1 was rebuilt to a media trench bed. The elimination rate of BOD and turbidity was over 90% in both systems. The mean elimination rates 40~50%(system 1), 30~40%(system 2) for T-N and 40~50% (system 1), 30~40%(system 2)for T-P. T-N and T-P elimination performance of system 1 was a little higher(10%) than that of system 2. Results showed that vegetation bed are not efficient in reducing T-N and T-P. It was considered that HRT of vegetation bed of both systems was much lower(1~2hr) than that of conventional system(5~20days).

• Journal of odor and indoor environment
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.139-149
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• 2017

In order to reduce odor and methane emission from the landfill, open biocovers and a closed biofilter were applied to the landfill site. Three biocovers and the biofilter are suitable for relatively small-sized landfills with facilities that cannot resource methane into recovery due to small volumes of methane emission. Biocover-1 consists only of the soil of the landfill site while biocover-2 is mixed with the earthworm casts and artificial soil (perlite). The biofilter formed a bio-layer by adding mixed food waste compost as packing material of biocover-2. The removal efficiency decreased over time on biocover-1. However, biocover-2 and the biofilter showed stable odor removal efficiency. The rates of methane removal efficiency were in order of biofilter (94.9%)>, biocover-1(42.3%)>, and biocover-2 (37.0%). The methane removal efficiency over time in biocover-1 was gradually decreased. However, drastic efficiency decline was observed in biocover-2 due to the hardening process. As a result of overturning the surface soil where the hardening process was observed, methane removal efficiency increased again. The biofilter showed stable methane removal efficiency without degradation. The estimate methane oxidation rate in biocover-1 was an average of 10.4%. Biocover-2 showed an efficiency of 46.3% after 25 days of forming biocover. However, due to hardening process efficiency dropped to 4.6%. After overturn of the surface soil, the rate subsequently increased to 17.9%, with an evaluated average of 12.5%.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.167-177
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• 2011

Billions of barrels of briny produced water are generated in the United States every year during oil and gas production. The first step toward recovering or reusing this water is to remove the hazardous organics dissolved in the briny produced water. Biological degradation of hazardous volatile compound could be possible regardless of salinity if they were extracted from briny water. In the current work, the effectiveness of a vapor phase biofilter to degrade the gas-phase contaminants (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes, BTEX) extracted from briny produced water was evaluated. The performance of biofilter system responded well to short periods when the BTEX feed to the biofilter was discontinued. To challenge the system further, the biofilter was subjected to periodic spikes in inlet BTEX concentration as would be expected when it is coupled to a Surfactant-Modified Zeolite (SMZ) bed. Results of these experiments indicate that although the BTEX removal efficiency declined under these conditions, it stabilized at 75% overall removal even when the biofilter was provided with BTEX-contaminated air only 8 hours out of every 24 hours. Benzene removal was found to be the most sensitive to time varying loading conditions. A passive, granular activated carbon bed was effective at attenuating and normalizing the peak BTEX loadings during SMZ regeneration over a range of VOC loads. Field testing of a SMZ bed coupled with an activated carbon buffering/biofilter column verified that this system could be used to remove and ultimately biodegrade the dissolved BTEX constituents in briny produced water.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.4-9
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• 2003

Biofiltration can effectively remove both organic and inorganic air pollution compounds from both industrial and public sources. However, for the optimal biofiltration performance, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the inner environment and destruction mechanisms within a biofilter. The effects of operational factors on removal efficiency was studied. Generally, removal efficiency decreases as the loading rate increases. Temperature, as one of the key factors that affect biofiltration design and performance, was also investigated. Conceptually, the biofilter reactor of this paper was divided into five different consecutive stages. The more ethylbenzene COD degraded at each stage, the higher the temperature increases observed compared to the temperatures of the previous stages. It was observed that for every 1 kg of ethylbenzene COD degraded per cubic meter of biofilter media, there was generally a 0.41$^{\circ}C$ increase in the temperature of that stage.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2000

A suitable packing material for biofiltration of monoaromatic solvent vapors was selected among various types of packing materials such as peat, bark chips, vermiculite, and Hydroballs. A previously isolated strain, Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes BTXO2, which could utilize toluene, m-and p-xylene as carbon and energy sources was used as a biofilter inoculum. Four glass biofilters (6 cm dia. x 60 cm) were individually packed with each of the packing materials and solvent vapors were passed through the columns. During three weeks of peat biofilter operation, average removal efficiencies of toluene, m-and p-xylene were 90.4%, 95.3%, and 82.1%, respectively. With the other packings, the efficiencies were in the range of 10.1 to 58.6％ which were significantly lower than those of the peat biofilter. The peat biofilter was continually operated for approximately nine months and the biofilter sustained its degradation activity during the operation period with minimal maintenance. At steady state, average removal rates of toluene, m- and p-xylene vapors were estimated as 14.2, 5.5, and 8.1 g m$\^$-3/ packing h$\^$-1/, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.373-382
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• 2013

In this study, a biological odor treatment system was proposed to remove odor(foul smell) materials causing several problems in the closed sewage treatment plant. This odor treatment system was composed of a two-step biofilter system in one reactor. The two-step biofilter reactor was constructed with natural purification layer in upper part and artificial purification layer in lower part. The reed grasses of water purification plants were planted in the surface area and mixed porous ceramic media were filled with the lower part of biofilter reactor. By using the above experimental apparatus, the ammonia gas removal efficiency was attained to 98.3 % and the hydrogen sulfide gas removal efficiency was appeared more than 97.7 % which shows more effective than the conventional odor removal process.

• 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.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.843-849
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• 2005

The objective of this research was to investigate the removal efficiencies ofVOCs and odors with newly developed biofilter which was designed to sustain the biofilm constantly on the packed media. Initially, four types of media, for example, fiber, activated carbon, ceramic and the mixture of activated carbon and ceramic(AIC mixture J, were used for packed materials of biofilter. When ethylalcohol was selected as a test gas for media efficiency, fiber and AIC mixture had better removal efficiencies of ethyl alcohol than others. Removal efficiencies for acetaldehyde, ethyl alcohol, butylalcohol, ethylacetate and diethylamine in biofilter with fiber and AIC mixture as packed media were increased as the residence time increased. Butylalcohol, especially, showed the maximum removal efficiency among all used VOCs and odors. In case of ethyl acetate, the difference of removal efficiencies between low and high residence times was wide remarkably.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.399-407
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• 2006

In this study, an electrical conductive carbon fiber was used as a biofilter matrix to electrochemically improve the biofilter function. A bioreactor system was composed of carbon fiber (anode), titanium ring, porcelain ring, inorganic nutrient reservoir, and VOC reservoir. Electric DC power of 1.5 volt was charged to the carbon fiber anode (CFA) to induce the electrochemical oxidation potential on the biofilter matrix, but not to the carbon fiber (CF). We tested the effects of electrochemical oxidation potential charged to the CFA on the biofilm structure, the bacterial growth, and the activity for metabolic oxidation of VOCs to $CO_2$, According to the SEM image, the biofilm structure developed in the CFA appeared to be greatly different from that in the CF. The bacterial growth, VOCs degradation, and metabolic oxidation of VOCs to $CO_2$ in the CFA were more activated than those in the CF. On the basis of these results, we propose that the biofilm structure can be improved, and the bacterial growth and the bacterial oxidation activity of VOCs can be activated by the electrochemical oxidation potential charged to a biofilter matrix.