Effects of packing material on the biofiltration of benzene, toluene and xylene vapours

Biofiltration was used to eliminate volatile organic compounds from air streams in bench-scale reactors inoculated with an adapted consortium. Organic and inert supports were tested on 100 days of operation. The supports were: peat, vermiculite, a mixture of vermiculite and activated carbon, tree bark and, porous glass Rashig rings. A mixture of benzene, toluene and xylene vapors with a load of 200 gC m(-3) h(-1) was fed to the biofilters with an empty bed residence time of 60 s. Removal efficiencies higher than 95% were obtained with the mixture of vermiculite and activated carbon, 85% for peat and bark, 80% for vermiculite and 65% for the Rashig rings. In all cases, drying problems in beds were observed after several days of operation. Water addition with or without nutrients was required to maintain and increase the performance of biofilters. In steady state operation, experiments at loads ranging from 50 to 400 gC m(-3) h(-1) were carried out and a maximum elimination capacity of 260 gC m(-3) h(-1) was obtained for vermiculite-activated carbon support. The three xylene isomers were degraded. Observations of the supports surface by scanning electronic microscopy at the end of the biofiltration experiment showed abundant growth of fungi; which were not in the inoculum, had colonized the biofilter.