A packed bed Reactor Combined with Membrane Unit for the Elimination of Toluene Vapours using a Novel Packing Material

Abstract

Toluene is a colorless and aromatic oily liquid primarily used in the petrochemical and polymer processing industries and has been used in this study as the target compound. Continuous experiments were performed in a biofilter on a laboratory scale, followed by a membrane reactor to monitor toluene as one single contaminant. This bioreactor device included a reactor with a packed bed and a membrane array. Pearl millet stacks and berl saddles have been used as packing material for the development of the attached microorganism. Toluene was efficiently treated, with toluene effluent concentrations held at less than 0.4 g m-3 and a Total Removal Efficiency (TRE) of more than 96 % achieved when fluctuating loads were faced by the packed bed reactor. The combined packed bed reactor system had a maximum RE of 93.8 g m-3 h-1, which was higher than the one obtained with the packed bed reactor alone. In this work the influences on gas membrane separation were also explored in the combined bioreactor and membrane fouling.