Authors: Chhaya Das Ranjana Chowdhury Pinaki Bhattacharya
Publish Date: 2010/12/19
Volume: 34, Issue: 4, Pages: 447-458
Abstract
Volatile organic compounds namely toluene trichloroethylene styrene etc disposed off by electronics and polymer industries are very harmful The treatment of VOC laden air through biochemical route is one of the potential options for reduction of their concentration in parts per million or parts per billion level Under the present investigation a 005m diameter and 058m high trickle bed biofilter has been studied for the removal of VOCs namely toluene and trichloroethylene from a simulated air–VOC mixture using pure strain of Pseudomonas putida NCIM2650 in immobilized form Inlet concentrations of VOCs have been varied in two ranges the lower being 020–200 g/m3 and higher being 10–20 g/m3 respectively The Monod type rate kinetics of removal of VOCs has been determined A threephase deterministic mathematical model has been developed taking the simultaneous reaction kinetics and interphase gas to liquid to biofilm mass transfer rate of VOCs into consideration Experimentally determined kinetic parameters and mass transfer coefficients calculated using standard correlations have been used Concentrations have been simulated for all the three phases Simulated results based on the model have been compared with the experimental ones for both gas and liquid phases satisfactorily The mathematical model validated through the successful comparison with experimental data may be utilized for the prediction of performance of biofilters undergoing removal of different VOCs in any further investigation and may be utilized for the scaleup of the system to industrial scale
Keywords: