• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.127-135
• /
• 2013

In this study, both pressure drop and microbe-population-distribution were observed while running a novel biofilter system with improved design in which the biofilter system is composed of two, upper and lower biofilters with both equal feed-rates of up-flow and down-flow, respectively. Then they were compared with the pressure drop and microbe-population-distribution observed in a conventional biofilter of the same effective volume with unidirectional flow. The pressure drop-value of biofilter system with improved design turned out to be less at the incipient stage of run or steady-state long term operation by more than 40~80% of that of the conventional biofilter. The microbe-population-distribution was observed to be lower and higher at higher and lower column of biofilter, respectively, for both the conventional biofilter and the biofilter system with improved design. The microbe-media of waste-tire crumb showed much greater CFU counts than GAC. In the biofilter system with improved design, the $bottom{\rightarrow}up$ feeding of waste air showed greater microbe-population growth than the $top{\rightarrow}down$ feeding for both the microbe-media of waste-tire crumb and GAC. However, it was more prominent for the former than the latter. Comparing the microbe-population-distributions of both of the conventional biofilter and the biofilter system with improved design, the microbe-population of latter was distributed ca. 15 and 2.5 times more evenly for GAC and the media of waste-tire crumb, respectively, than that of former.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.599-606
• /
• 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 Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.669-675
• /
• 2005

Biological nitrate removal from groundwater was investigated in the biofilters packed with both gravel/sand and plastic media. Removal of particles and turbidity were also investigated in the 2-stage biofilter system consisted of biofilter and subsequent sand filter. In the single biofilter packed with gravel and sand, nitrate removal efficiency was dropped with the increase of filtration velocity and furthermore, nitrite concentration increased up to 3.2 mg-N/L at 60 m/day. Denitrification rate at the bottom layer below 25 cm was faster 8 times than upper layer in the up-flow biofilter. Nitrite build-up, due to the deficiency of organic electron donors, occurred at the upper layer of bed. Besides DO concentration and organic carbon, contact time in media was the main factor for nitrate removal in a biofilter. The most of the effluent particles from biofilter was in the range from 0.5 to $2.0{\mu}m$, which resulted in high turbidity of 1.8 NTU. However, sand filter followed by biofilter efficiently performed the removal of particles and turbidity, which could reduce the turbidity of final filtrate below 0.5 NTU. Influent nitrate was removed completely in the 2-stage biofilter and no nitrite was detected.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.221-227
• /
• 2013

The methane oxidation characteristics at the top and bottom layers in up-flow biofilters were investigated. Two biofilters were packed with perlite and tobermolite (biofilter A: respectively top and bottom; biofilter B: respectively bottom and top) and then compared. The methane oxidation rate was analyzed with the packed bed of the biofilter layers. The bacterial population in the biofilter was characterized using quantitative real-time PCR. For the methane oxidation rate of the biofilter A column, the perlite top part ($845.16{\pm}64.78{\mu}mol{\cdot}VS^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$) gave a relatively higher value than the tobermolite bottom part ($381.85{\pm}42.00{\mu}mol{\cdot}VS^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$). For the methane oxidation rate of the biofilter B column, the tobermolite top part ($601.25{\pm}37.78{\mu}mol{\cdot}VS^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$) provided a relatively higher value than the perlite bottom part ($411.07{\pm}53.02{\mu}mol{\cdot}VS^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$). The pmoA gene copy numbers, responsible for methanotrophs, in the top layer of biofilter A (1.27E+13 pmoA gene copy number/mg-VSS) was higher than in the bottom layer (3.33E+13 pmoA gene copy number/mg-VSS). However, the population of methanotrophs in biofilter B was not significantly different between the top and bottom layers. These results suggest that although the methane oxidation rates of perlite and tobermolite in the top parts of biofilter A and B were high, methanotroph populations were higher in the bottom parts of both biofilters, with a rapid decline in methane concentrations within the biofilters.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.94-105
• /
• 2021

Two vertical flow biofilters in series (BFS) employing synthetic fiber (FBF) followed by woodchip (WBF) was investigated in order to assess its potential as an alternative to the typical vertical-horizontal flow configuration in removing nonpoint source pollutants specifically nutrients and organics. These lab-scale column biofilters were operated for 176 days alongside three other columns that were added for control and sampling purposes. The biofilter columns were fed with either a semi-artificial piggery stormwater or artificial stormwater with specific ammonia and nitrate contents. Results reveal that the BFS was more effective than a single biofilter in removing pollutants especially nitrogen. FBF was found to remove up to 100% of ammonia from the stormwater with corresponding increase in nitrate in the outflow which shows evidence of active nitrification. Meanwhile, the succeeding vertical WBF was able to subsequently remove 77% of the nitrate. The effective reduction of nitrate in a vertical flow biofilter was believed to be due to the use of woodchip which can provide a carbon source that is required for denitrification. However, further investigation is needed to support this claim. Nonetheless, the study shows the potential of vertical flow BFS as a nitrogen removal mechanism especially in areas where enough land space for horizontal flow biofilters is limited.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.113-124
• /
• 2006

The feasibility of the up- and down-flow constructed wetland was examined fur rural wastewater treatment in Korea. Many constructed wetland process was suffered from substrate clogging and high plant stresses because of long term operation. The up- and down-flow constructed wetland process used porous granule materials (charcoal pumice : SSR=10:20:70) for promoting intake rate of nutrient to plant, and especially flow type was designed continuously repeating from up-flow to down-flow. $BOD_5$ and SS was removed effectively by the process with the average removal rate being about 75% respectively. The wetland process was effective in treating nutrient as well as organic pollutant. Removal of TN and TP were more effective than other wetland system and mean effluent concentrations were approximately 7.5 and $0.4mg\;L^{-1}$ which satisfied the water quality standard for WWTPs. The treatment system did not experience any clogging or accumulations of pollutants and reduction of treatment efficiency during winter period because constructed polycarbonate glass structure prevented temperature drop. Considering stable performance and effective removal of pollutant in wastewater, low maintenance, and cost-effectiveness, the up- and down-flow constructed wetland was thought to be an effective and feasible alternative in rural area.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.11 no.8
• /
• pp.819-827
• /
• 2002

Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of a biofilter for eliminating dimethyl sulfide(DMS). A commercial compost/pine bark nugget mixture served as the biofilter material for the experiments. The gas flow rate and DMS concentration entering the filter were varied to study their effect on the biofilter efficiency. The operating parameters, such as the residence time, inlet concentration, pH, water content, and temperature, were all monitored throughout the filter operation. The kinetic dependence of the DMS removal along the column length was also studied to obtain a quantitative description of the DMS elimination. High DMS removal efficiencies(>95％) were obtained using the compost filter material seeded with activated sludge. DMS pollutant loading rates of up to 5.2 and 5.5 g-DMS/m$^3$/hr were effectively handled by the upflow and downflow biofilter columns, respectively. The macrokinetics of the DMS removal were found to be fractional-order diffusion-limited over the 9 to 25 ppm range of inlet concentrations tested. The upflow column had an average macrokinetic coefficient(K$\_$f/) of 0.0789 $\pm$ 0.0178 ppm$\^$$\sfrac{1}{2}$//sec, while the downflow column had an average coefficient of 0.0935 $\pm$ 0.0200 ppm$\^$$\sfrac{1}{2}$//sec. Shorter residence times resulted in a lower mass transfer of the pollutant from the gas phase to the aqueous liquid phase, thereby decreasing the efficiency.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.469-473
• /
• 2000

We studied the removal of toluene vapors in a lab-scale biofiter. Biofiltration was performed in a column fed in a downflow manner with contaminated air at ambient conditions. The column was packed with a mixture of peat and calstone(5:3 vol. Ratio), which was inoculated with microbes of selected stains(Pseudomonas putida type A). The microorganisms were immobilized on the filter media and biofilms were formed. The fiofilter was operated at various inlet toluene concentrations for days, and treated up to a maximum elimination capacity of $20 g/m^3hr$ at an inlet load of $30 g/m^3hr$, which corresponds to removal efficiencies in the range 20∼90% and a gas retention time of 1 to 2 min. The pressure drop was almost negligible over the biofilter columns, amounting to only $1.062 cmH_2O/m$ and appreciably smaller than other studies. The effects of operating conditions such as flow rate, inlet toluene concentration and moisture content on the performance of the biofilter were sequentially investigated.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.784-791
• /
• 2007

The present work aims to use a biofilter technology(aerated submerged filters) for the aerobic transformation at laboratory-scale of olive washing water(OWW) generated in the first steps of olive oil processing, as well as the genetic profiling and identification to the species level of the bacteria involved in the formation of the biofilm, by means of TGGE. Chemical parameters, such as biological oxygen demand at five days($BOD_5$) and chemical oxygen demand(COD), decreased markedly(up to 90 and 85%, respectively) by the biological treatment, and the efficiency of the process was significantly affected by aeration and inlet flow rates. The total polyphenol content of inlet OWW was only moderately reduced(around 50% decrease of the inlet content) after the biofilter treatment, under the conditions tested. Partial 16S rRNA genes were amplified using total DNA extracted from the biofilm and separated by TGGE. Sequences of isolated bands were mostly affiliated to the $\alpha-subclass$ of Proteobacteria, and often branched in the periphery of bacteria] genera commonly present in soil(Rhizobium, Reichenowia, Agrobacterium, and Sphingomonas). The data obtained by the experimentation at laboratory scale provided results that support the suitability of the submerged filter technology for the treatment of olive washing waters with the purpose of its reutilization.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.465-469
• /
• 2006

Two mesophilic trickling bed bioreactors filled with two different types of media, hydrophilic- and hydrophobic-cubes, were designed and tested for hydrogen production via anaerobic fermentation of sucrose. Each reactor consisted of a column packed with polymeric cubes and inoculated with heat-treated sludge obtained from anaerobic digestion tank. A defined medium containing sucrose was fed with changing flow rate into the capped reactor, hydraulic retention time and recycle rate. Hydrogen concentrations in gas-phase were constant, averaging 40% for all conditions tested. Hydrogen production rates increased up to $10.5 L{\cdot};h^{-1}{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of reactor when influent sucrose concentrations and recycle rates were varied. Hydrophobic media provided higher value of hydrogen production rate than hydrophilic media at the same operation conditions. No methane was detected when the reactor was under a normal operation. The major fermentation by-products in the liquid effluent of the both trickling biofilters were acetate and butyrate. The reactor filled with hydrophilic media became clogged with biomass and bio gas, requiring manual cleaning of the system, while no clogging occurred in the reactor with hydrophobic media. In order to make long-term operation of the reactor filled with hydrophilic media feasible, biofilm accumulation inside the media in the reactor with hydrophilic media and biogas produced from the reactor will need to be controlled through some process such as periodical backwashing or gas-purging. These tests using trickling bed biofilter with hydrophobic media demonstrate the feasibility of the process to produce hydrogen gas in a trickle-bed type of reactor. A likely application of this reactor technology could be hydrogen gas recovery from pre-treatment of high carbohydrate-containing wastewaters.