title: Biofiltration using peat and a nutritional synthetic packing material: influence of the packing configuration on H2S removal.
abstract: This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of using a nutritional synthetic material (UP20) combined with fibrous peat as a packing material in treating H2S (up to 280 ppmv). Three identical laboratory-scale biofilters with different packing material configurations (peat only; peat + UP20 in a mixture; peat + UP20 in two layers) were used to determine the biofilter performances. The superficial velocity of the polluted gas on each biofilter was 65 m/h (gas flow rate 0.5 Nm3 /h) corresponding to an empty bed residence time = 57 s. Variations in elimination capacity, removal efficiency, temperature and pH were tracked during 111 d. A removal efficiency of 100% was obtained for loading rates up to 6 g/m3/h for the biofilter filled with 100% peat, and up to 10 g/m3/h for both biofilters using peat complemented with UP20. For higher loading rates (up to 25.5 g/m3/h), the configuration ofpeat-UP20 in a mixture provided the best removal efficiencies (around 80% compared to 65% for the configuration of peat-UP20 in two layers and 60% for peat only). Microbial characterization highlighted that peat is able to provide sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. Through kinetic analysis (Ottengrafand Michaelis-Menten models were applied), it appeared that the configuration peat-UP20 in two layers (80/20 v/v) did not show significant improvement compared with peat alone. Although the configuration of peat-UP20 in a mixture (80/20 v/v) offered a real advantage in improving H2S treatment, it was shown that this benefit was related to the bed configuration rather than the nutritional properties of UP20.
authors.affiliation: GEPEA UMR CNRS 6144, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, Nantes Cedex 3, France. eric.dumont@mines-nantes.fr
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.forename: Flavia Da Silva
authors.initials: Fda S
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Le Cloirec
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Andrès
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods*; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007700:Kinetics; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide