A hollow-fiber membrane bioreactor for the removal of trichloroethylene from the vapor phase

✍ Scribed by Jonathan G. Pressman; George Georgiou; Gerald E. Speitel Jr.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 183 KB
• Volume: 68
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-3592
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0290(20000605)68:5<548::aid-bit9>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

A hollow-fiber membrane bioreactor was used to separate trichloroethylene (TCE) from a gaseous waste stream with subsequent cometabolic biodegradation by a pure culture of Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b PP358. The two-stage bioreactor system was successfully operated for 20 days. PP358 was grown in a continuous-flow chemostat and circulated through the fiber lumen of a hollow-fiber membrane module (HFMM), while TCE contaminated air (141 to 191 µg/L) was pumped through the HFMM shell. Between 54% -84% TCE transfer and 92%-96% TCE cometabolism were obtained in the HFMM reactor loop. Short shellresidence times, 1.6 to 5.0 minutes, demonstrated quick throughput of TCE contaminated air. Best-fit computer modeling of the biological experiments estimated mass transfer coefficients between 2.0 × 10 -3 cm/min and 5.6 × 10 -3 cm/min. The average pseudo-first-order biodegradation rate constant for the biological experiments was 0.46 L/mg TSS/d. These results demonstrate that the hollow-fiber membrane bioreactor represents an attractive technology for the bioremediation of gaseous waste streams.