title: Nitrogen utilization and biomass yield in trickle bed air biofilters.
abstract: Nitrogen utilization and subsequent biomass yield were investigated in four independent lab-scale trickle bed air biofilters (TBABs) fed with different VOCs substrate. The VOCs considered were two aromatic (toluene, styrene) and two oxygenated (methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)). Long-term observations of TBABs performances show that more nitrogen was required to sustain high VOC removal, but the one fed with a high loading of VOC utilized much more nitrogen for sustaining biomass yield. The ratio N(consumption)/N(growth) was an effective indicator in evaluating nitrogen utilization in the system. Substrate VOC availability in the system was significant in determining nitrogen utilization and biomass yield. VOC substrate availability in the TBAB system was effectively identified by using maximum practical concentrations in the biofilm. Biomass yield coefficient, which was driven from the regression analysis between CO(2) production rate and substrate consumption rate, was effective in evaluating the TBAB performance with respect to nitrogen utilization and VOC removal. Biomass yield coefficients (g biomass/g substrate, dry weight basis) were observed to be 0.668, 0.642, 0.737, and 0.939 for toluene, styrene, MEK, and MIBK, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University of Technology, Seoul 139-743, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Daekeun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Sorial
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms; D018533:Biomass; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D009584:Nitrogen