BIOFILTRATION OF VOLATILE ORGANIC-COMPOUND (VOC) MIXTURES UNDER TRANSIENT CONDITIONS

In this study, a transient biofilter model for binary volatile organic compound (VOC) mixture is developed. In the model, general mixing, ox ygen limitation aspects, multicomponent adsorption phenomena, Monod- a nd Andrews-type kinetics with interference between the components are considered. Multicomponent adsorption isotherms are developed and used in the solution of the model. The model has been solved by two approa ches, (approximate and general) and validated with biofiltration of be nzene-toluene mixture data of previous work. The approximate model is based on the quasi-steady-state approximation in the biofilm, but the general model is solved as it is without any simplifications. The resu lts show that the predictions by the general model are closer to the a ctual experimental results. It was also found that inlet oxygen compos ition plays an important role in the biofiltration of mixed VOC remova l, specially at high inlet concentrations. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science L td.