Denitrification and nitric oxide reduction in an aerobic toluene-treating biofilter

✍ Scribed by Chris A. du Plessis; Kerry A. Kinney; Edward D. Schroeder; Daniel P. Y. Chang; Kate M. Scow

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 159 KB
• Volume: 58
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0006-3592
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0290(19980520)58:4<408::aid-bit8>3.0.co;2-n

✦ Synopsis

The presence of significant denitrification activity in an aerobic toluene-treating biofilter was demonstrated under batch and flow-through conditions. N 2 O concentrations of 9.2 ppm v were produced by denitrifying bacteria in the presence of 15% acetylene, in a flowthrough system with a bulk gas phase O 2 concentration of >17%. The carbon source for denitrification was not toluene but a byproduct or metabolite of toluene catabolism. Denitrification conditions were successfully used for the reduction of 60 ppm v nitric oxide to 15 ppm v at a flow rate of 3 L min -1 (EBRT of 3 min) in a fully aerated, 17% v/v O 2 (superficially aerobic) biofilter. Higher NO removal efficiency (97%) was obtained by increasing the toluene supply to the biofilter.