BIOLOGICAL PURIFICATION OF EXHAUST AIR CONTAINING TOLUENE VAPOR IN A FILTER-BED REACTOR

Experiments during a period of 93 days are reported on the treatment o f waste air containing toluene vapor using a laboratory scale biofilte r system packed with peat inoculated with specific florae (Pseudomonas type) and intermittently humidified with a nutrient solution necessar y for the survival of the micro-organisms. Design and operation parame ters were regularly measured in order to check the performance of the biodegradation process. Under pseudo-steady state conditions, a maximu m elimination capacity of 70 g/m(3).h was obtained for an inlet load o f 190 g/m(3).h. Elimination capacity data obtained agreed well with th e predictions of two recognized zero order kinetic models. Also, the b iofilm thickness as predicted from the Ottengraf and van den Oever mod el (1983) was around 1 mm.