Abstract
Biofiltration of air polluted with xylene vapors was carried out for nearly two years in a large laboratory-scale installation with a volume of the bed of expanded clay equal to 32 dm3. During the experiment, different xylene inlet concentrations were applied, within the range from 300 to over 1500 mg/m3 at a linear gas flow rate of 0.008, 0.016, and 0.033 m/s, as well as 0.12 and 0.24 dm3 of medium dispensed every 3 h on top of the bed. The progress of the process was followed by measuring the xylene concentration at the inlet and outlet of the column, column mass, and gas flow resistance. The capability to purify air polluted with xylene with an average efficiency of approx. 90% was demonstrated. The process was interrupted by a significant increase in gas flow resistance, caused by a large growth of biomass, resulting in an increase in the mass of the bed by more than 45%. Both intensive rinsing of the bed with a stream of water, causing its fluidization, and rinsing and mixing after removing the bed from the column allowed to reduce flow resistance to a value close to the initial one. To ensure the supply of biogenic elements, it was necessary to periodically spray the bed with a solution of the medium in an amount of up to about 0.1 dm3/h/m3 of purified air.
Highlights
One of the significant environmental problems plaguing the contemporary world is the emission of volatile non-methane organic compounds into the atmosphere
When the effect of xylene removal in the column was still not observed after more than 30 days, its concentration at the inlet was reduced to 700 mg/m3 and the gas flow rate to 14 dm3/min
Air contaminated with technical xylene can be effectively purified by biofiltration on a biotrickling column filled with keramzyt at a concentration of up to 1500 mg/m3, airflow at a linear rate of up to 0.032 m/s, and a load of the bed up to 105 g/h/m3
Summary
One of the significant environmental problems plaguing the contemporary world is the emission of volatile non-methane organic compounds into the atmosphere. The emission of organic solvent vapors, of which xylene is one of the main components, constitutes a large share. Its production in Europe in 2000 was 2872 kt [1]. It is a good solvent for paints, varnishes, and adhesives. Its share in commercial solvents is in a wide range of 10–60%. It gets into the environment as a result of evaporation and leakage from tanks and incomplete combustion. According to European and American regulations, it is a dangerous substance, its emission into the environment should be controlled [3,4]. Biofiltration due to its close connection with the environment is one of the better methods of reducing its emissions
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