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Published on: October 15, 2015
Denitrification and nitric oxide reduction in an aerobic toluene-treating biofilter
C A du Plessis1, K A Kinney, E D Schroeder
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, California, USA. DPlessC@micro.nw.uovs.ac.za
Abstract:
The presence of significant denitrification activity in an aerobic toluene-treating biofilter was demonstrated under batch and flow-through conditions. N2O concentrations of 9.2 ppmv were produced by denitrifying bacteria in the presence of 15% acetylene, in a flow-through system with a bulk gas phase O2 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 ppmv nitric oxide to 15 ppmv at a flow rate of 3 L min-1 (EBRT of 3 min) in a fully aerated, 17% v/v O2 (superficially aerobic) biofilter. Higher NO removal efficiency (97%) was obtained by increasing the toluene supply to the biofilter.
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