Removal of toluene in gas streams by a fibrous-bed trickling filter

A novel fibrous-bed trickling filter was developed to remove toluene presen t in contaminated air. Pure culture of Pseudomonas putida F1 was attached o n fibrous-bed and utilized toluene as the carbon source. Experimental resul ts indicated the removal efficiency decreased with the increase of inlet co ncentration. In general, the removal efficiency of toluene was greater than 90% when the inlet loading capacity was below 70 g m(-3)h(-1). The elimina tion capacity increased with increasing inlet loading capacity, but the inc reased rate decreased gradually. When the inlet loading capacity increased to 300 g m(-3)h(-1), the elimination capacity could approach to 130 g m(-3) h(-1). The first order kinetics model was useful to describe the removal of toluene in this filter and an excellent linear relationship was found betw een the apparent first order parameter and inlet concentration (ranging fro m 1.2 g m(-3) to 3.5 g m(-3)). Also, the performance of fibrous-bed trickli ng filter was relatively stable during the four-month period of continuous operation. Slight clogging phenomena of filters were observed only under hi gh loading capacity.