Treatment of mixtures of toluene and n-propanol vapours in a compost-woodchip-based biofilter.
The present work describes the biofiltration of mixture of n-propanol (as a model hydrophilic volatile organic compound (VOC)) and toluene (as a model hydrophobic VOC) in a biofilter packed with a compost-woodchip mixture. Initially, the biofilter was fed with toluene vapours at loadings up to 175 g m(-3) h(-1) and removal efficiencies of 70%-99% were observed. The biofilter performance when removing mixtures of toluene and n-propanol reached elimination capacities of up to 67g(toluene) m(-3) h(-1) and 85 g(n-propanol) m(-3) h(-1) with removal efficiencies of 70%-100% for toluene and essentially 100% for n-propanol. The presence of high n-propanol loading negatively affected the toluene removal; however, n-propanol removal was not affected by the presence of toluene and was effectively removed in the biofilter despite high toluene loadings. A model for toluene and n-propanol biofiltration could predict the cross-inhibition effect of n-propanol on toluene removal.
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nehru Marg, Nagpur, India.
R M
RM
Dixit
S C
SC
Deshmukh
A A
AA
Gadhe
G S
GS
Kannade
S K
SK
Lokhande
R A
RA
Pandey
A N
AN
Vaidya
S N
SN
Mudliar
M A
MA
Deshusses
D000433:1-Propanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods; D008956:Models, Chemical; D014050:Toluene / Q000737:chemistry*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
D000393:Air Pollutants; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; D014050:Toluene; D000433:1-Propanol