Abstract. A mobile biofilter testing laboratory was developed where two types of wood chips (western cedar and hardwood) were examined to treat odor emissions from a deep-pit swine finishing facility in central Iowa. The biofilters were run continuously for 12 weeks at different air flow rates resulting in variable empty bed residence times. During this test period, a dynamic forced-choice olfa...

Partially treated black water from septic tanks and grey water from households in Kuching City were polluting the Sarawak River. A pilot scale ecological sanitation was implemented where blackwater was held in septic tanks and greywater was channeled to a grease trap, biofilters and a constructed wetland before discharge. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the efficiency of the biofi...

Lithoautotrophic nitrite-oxidizing bacterial populations from moving-bed biofilters of brackish recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS; shrimp and barramundi) were tested for their metabolic activity and phylogenetic diversity. Samples from the biofilters were labeled with (13)C-bicarbonate and supplemented with nitrite at concentrations of 0.3, 3 and 10 mM, and incubated at 17 and 28°C, respec...

The removal of hydrophobic pollutants in biofilters is often limited by gas liquid mass transfer to the biotic aqueous phase where biodegradation occurs. It has been proposed that the use of fungi may improve their removal efficiency. To confirm this, the uptake of hexane vapors was investigated in 2.6-L perlite-packed biofilters, inoculated with a mixed culture containing bacteria and fungi, w...

Packing materials used in biofiltration of gaseous pollutants represent a key design parameter, as proper selection might not only determine the adequate performance system but also its cost-effectiveness. This study systematically assessed and compared conventional plastic carrier with that two novel clay-based from SAINT GOBAIN for abatement model odorous stream composed H2S, methylmercaptan ...

To date, biofilters have been used primarily to control dilute, usually odorous, off-gases with relatively low volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations (<1 g m-3) and VOC loads (<50 g m-3 hr-1). Recently, however, U.S. industry has shown an interest in applying biofilters to higher concentrations of VOCs and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). In this study, the behavior of biofilters under ...

To a large extent the performance of biofilters relies on the presence of suitable amounts of water in order to provide conditions needed for microbiological degradation of pollutants to take place. In many cases breakdown of filtration performance occurs due to inappropriate water contents in the filter material. The present study focuses on the drying dynamics within such filters, which are m...

OBJECTIVE To investigate phosphorus limitation and its effect on the removal efficiency of organic matters in drinking water biological treatment. METHODS Bacterial growth potential (BGP) method and a pair of parallel pilot-scale biofilters were used for the two objectives, respectively. RESULTS The addition of phosphorus could substantially increase the BGPs of the water samples and the ef...