Performance Evaluation of a Methane Biofilter Unde

Authors: Milad Ferdowsi Marc Veillette Antonio Avalos Ramirez J Peter Jones Michèle Heitz

Publish Date: 2016/05/03

Volume: 227, Issue: 6, Pages: 168-

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Abstract

An inorganicbased bed biofilter was used to eliminate methane CH4 from an air stream under pseudo steady state transient state shock loads and starvation conditions Under pseudo steady state conditions the effect of inlet CH4 concentration in the range of 1000–13000 ppmv on the biofilter performance was studied The air flow rate was kept constant at 3 L min−1 corresponding to an empty bed residence time EBRT of 6 min The flexibility of the biofilter under transient conditions was evaluated by two strategies Inlet loads IL varied from 13 to 65 g m−3 h−1 by changing inlet concentrations from 2000 to 10000 ppmv or by changing air flow rates varied from 3 to 15 L min−1 separately Finally the effects of nutrients and CH4 starvations were evaluated The biofilter performance was promising for the treatment of a wide range of concentrations of off gas emissions polluted with CH4 1000–13000 ppmv For CH4 concentrations ranging from 1000 to 4000 ppmv the removal efficiency RE remained higher than 75  The maximum elimination capacity EC obtained in this study was 45 g m−3 h−1 for an IL of 87 g m−3 h−1 In case of sudden variations of ILs 13 to 65 g m−3 h−1 either by changing the inlet concentration or by modifying the flow rate the responses of the biofilter were almost instantaneous

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