Nitrifying biofilters are used in aquaria and aquaculture systems to prevent accumulation of ammonia by promoting rapid conversion to nitrate via nitrite. Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), as opposed to ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), were recently identified as the dominant ammonia oxidizers in most freshwater aquaria. This study investigated biofilms from fixed-bed aquarium biofilters to ass...

From contaminated industrial sludge, two stable multistrain microbial enrichments (consortia) that were capable of rapidly utilizing chlorobenzene and o-dichlorobenzene, respectively, were obtained. These consortia were characterized as to their species composition, tolerance range, and activity maxima in order to establish and maintain the required operational parameters during their use in bi...

Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in nitrifying biofilters degrading four regulated trihalomethanes-trichloromethane, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and tribromomethane-were related to Nitrosomonas oligotropha. N. oligotropha is associated with chloraminated drinking water systems, and its presence in the biofilters might indicate that trihalomethane tolerance is another reason that...

This article reviews literature on biofilter research both in laboratories and at confined livestock facilities. The purpose is to give an up‐to‐date review of biofilters used to mitigate of odors and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from agricultural facilities using biofilters. More specifically the article addresses: 1) Factors concerned in design and operation of biofilters such as media p...

To improve bacterial removal, a traditional stormwater biofilter can be augmented with biochar, but it is unknown whether bacterial removal remains consistent as the biochar weathers during intermittent exposure to stormwater under dry-wet and freeze-thaw cycles. To examine the effect of weathering on bacterial removal capacity of biochar, we subjected biochar-augmented sand filters (or simplif...

The presence of microbial contaminants in urban stormwater is a significant concern for public health; however, their removal by traditional stormwater biofilters has been reported as inconsistent and inadequate. Recent work has explored the use of biochar to improve performance of stormwater biofilters under simplified conditions that do not consider potential effects of biofilm development on...

Formaldehyde is a dangerous compound that must eliminate from contaminated air. Different methods exist for removal of pollutants from the air that among them, the biological processes attracted a great deal of attention. Removal of formaldehyde from the contaminated air was investigated in three laboratory-scale biofilters packed with different materials (a mixture of compost and woodchips, th...

The performance of twelve biofilters with three different residence times (approximately 4 s, 7 s, and 13 s) was measured on a dairy, swine, and poultry facility. Odor and hydrogen sulfide reduction improved from 56% to 94% as residence times increased from 4 s to 7 s for the dairy and swine. Percent reduction remained above 89% as residence time increased from 7 s to 13 s on the dairy and swin...

Phenol is a ubiquitous organic contaminant in drinking water. Biodegradation plays an important role in the elimination of phenol pollution in the environment, but the information about phenol removal by drinking water biofilters is still lacking. Herein, we study an acclimated bacterial community that can degrade over 80% of 300 mg/L phenol within 3 days. PCR detection of genotypes involved in...

Fungal biofilters have been recently studied as an alternative to the bacterial systems for the elimination of hydrophobic volatile organic compounds (VOC). Fungi foster reduced transport limitation of hydrophobic VOCs due to their hydrophobic surface and extended gas exchange area associated to the hyphal growth. Nevertheless, one of their principal drawbacks is their slow growth, which is cri...