title: A comparative study of fungal and bacterial biofiltration treating a VOC mixture.
abstract: Bacterial biofilters usually exhibit a high microbial diversity and robustness, while fungal biofilters have been claimed to better withstand low moisture contents and pH values, and to be more efficient coping with hydrophobic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, there are only few systematic evaluations of both biofiltration technologies. The present study compared fungal and bacterial biofiltration for the treatment of a VOC mixture (propanal, methyl isobutyl ketone-MIBK, toluene and hexanol) under the same operating conditions. Overall, fungal biofiltration supported lower elimination capacities than its bacterial counterpart (27.7 ± 8.9 vs 40.2 ± 5.4 gCm(-3) reactor h(-1)), which exhibited a final pressure drop 60% higher than that of the bacterial biofilter due to mycelial growth. The VOC mineralization ratio was also higher in the bacterial bed (≈ 63% vs ≈ 43%). However, the substrate biodegradation preference order was similar for both biofilters (propanal>hexanol>MIBK>toluene) with propanal partially inhibiting the consumption of the rest of the VOCs. Both systems supported an excellent robustness versus 24h VOC starvation episodes. The implementation of a fungal/bacterial coupled system did not significantly improve the VOC removal performance compared to the individual biofilter performances.
authors: Departamento de Procesos y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Cuajimalpa, Artificios 40, Col. Miguel Hidalgo, Delegación Álvaro Obregón, Mexico.
authors: José M
authors: JM
authors: Estrada
authors: Sergio
authors: S
authors: Hernández
authors: Raúl
authors: R
authors: Muñoz
authors: Sergio
authors: S
authors: Revah
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000397:Air Pollution; D000447:Aldehydes / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D018533:Biomass; D005374:Filtration; D005658:Fungi / Q000378:metabolism*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D005740:Gases; D000441:Hexanols / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008422:Materials Testing; D008742:Methyl n-Butyl Ketone / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012492:Salts / Q000737:chemistry; D014050:Toluene / Q000302:isolation & purification; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D000447:Aldehydes; D005740:Gases; D000441:Hexanols; D012492:Salts; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; D014050:Toluene; D008742:Methyl n-Butyl Ketone; C005556:propionaldehyde; C005458:methyl isobutyl ketone