MODELING OF ACETONE BIOFILTRATION PROCESS

Biofiltration has been validated as a promising alternative to other c onventional air pollution control technologies [1-3]. The objective of this research was to investigate the kinetic behavior of the biofiltr ation process for the removal of acetone, which was used as a model co mpound for highly water-soluble gas pollutants. Experiments were condu cted in a laboratory-scale biofilter with a mixture of sieved compost and inert porous particles as the filter material. If was found that t he elimination capacity of this biofilter could reach up to a high val ue of 80 g/(m(3) hr). A mathematical model was developed by taking int o account diffusion and biodegradation of acetone and diffusion of oxy gen in the biofilm, mass transfer resistance in the gas film, and flow pattern of the bulk gas phase, the simulated results obtained from th e proposed model indicated that mass transfer resistance in the gas ph ase was negligible for this biofiltration process. Analysis of the rel ative importance of individual rate steps indicated that the overall a cetone removal process was primarily limited by the oxygen diffusion r ate. Moreover, the gasphase acetone concentration profile along the bi ofilter and the elimination capacity predicted by the proposed model a greed well with the experimental results.