Performance of fibrous bed bioreactor for treating odorous gas. Scientific note

A fibrous bed bioreactor was used for treatment of odorous volatile fatty acid (VFA). The effect of gaseous VFA (acetic, propionic, and butyric acids) mass loading on the bioreactor performance was investigated. The VFA degrading microbial culture was selected from activated sludge by the three VFAs using a shake-flask culture. The selected microorganisms were then immobilized in a biofilter using cotton fabric as packing material. In the biofiltration experiment, the inlet gas flow rates ranged from 1 to 4 L/min, the total VFA concentrations ranged from 0.10 to 0.43 g/m3, and the resulting total mass loadings of VFA studied ranged from 9.7 to 104.3 g/m3/h. At total mass loading of 104.3 g/m3/h, the VFA removal efficiency was 87.7%. Higher removal efficiencies (>90%) were achieved at mass loadings below 50.3 g/m3/h.