title: Start-up, performance and optimization of a compost biofilter treating gas-phase mixture of benzene and toluene.
abstract: The performance of a compost biofilter inoculated with mixed microbial consortium was optimized for treating a gas-phase mixture of benzene and toluene. The biofilter was acclimated to these VOCs for a period of ∼18d. The effects of concentration and flow rate on the removal efficiency (RE) and elimination capacity (EC) were investigated by varying the inlet concentration of benzene (0.12-0.95g/m(3)), toluene (0.14-1.48g/m(3)) and gas-flow rate (0.024-0.072m(3)/h). At comparable loading rates, benzene removal in the mixture was reduced in the range of 6.6-41% in comparison with the individual benzene degradation. Toluene removal in mixture was even more affected as observed from the reductions in REs, ranging from 18.4% to 76%. The results were statistically interpreted by performing an analysis of variance (ANOVA) to elucidate the main and interaction effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, UNESCO-IHE Institute of Water Education, PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: e.raj@unesco-ihe.org.
authors.forename: Eldon R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Rene
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, UNESCO-IHE Institute of Water Education, PO Box 3015, 2601 DA Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saurajyoti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jagannathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krishnan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam 781039, India.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pakshirajan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Campus da Zapateira, University of La Coruńa, Rua da Fraga, 10, E-15008 La Coruña, Spain.
authors.forename: M Estefanía
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: Broward College, 3501 Davie Road, Davie, FL 33314, USA.
authors.forename: D V S
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Murthy
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Swaminathan
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001554:Benzene / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008954:Models, Biological; D044367:Phase Transition; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D014050:Toluene / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014462:Ultrafiltration / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D045424:Complex Mixtures; D012987:Soil; D014050:Toluene; D001554:Benzene
keywords: Biofilter; Elimination capacity; Shut-down; Statistical optimization; VOCs