Hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas in biotrickling filter system inoculated with Paracoccus pantotrophus

Biogas generated from anaerobic digestion can be employed as fuel in either industrial boilers or electric generators. The presence of a trace amount of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the biogas can severely impact on the biogas applications. Biotrickling filter (BF) inoculated with a pure strain of sulfide oxidizing bacterium, Paracoccus pantotrophus NTV02 was used to remove H2S from the biogas in the present work. P. pantotrophus was successfully immobilized on plastic packing media in BF after 228 h inoculation. H2S containing biogas and liquid media was subsequently fed into BF under countercurrent direction with fixed inlet gas flowrate and liquid media recirculation rate at 0.5 LPM (120 s EBRT) and 3.6 1,/h. H2S in the biogas was varied in the range of 100-2,000 ppmv. BF achieved H2S removal efficiency at 98.3-99.7% at its inlet concentration ranges of 300-1,500 ppmv of H2S. The removal efficiency (99.5%) little declined as H2S inlet reached 2,000 ppmv. The maximum of elimination capacity was 82.98 g H2S/m(3).h at the loading rate of 83.58 g H2S/m(3). h. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.