Biodegradation of gaseous xylene in a flat composite membrane bioreactor

The xylene is an important hydrophobic volatile organic compound (VOC) widely used as a solvent in different industries. Compared to the conventional bioreactors, the membrane bioreactor is more efficient for the degradation of hydrophobic VOCs. In this work, the degradation of gaseous xylene in a flat composite membrane bioreactor inoculated with activated sludge under different operating conditions was investigated. The maximum elimination capacities, EC_v of 289 g/(m³ h) and EC_m of 0.145 g/(m² h) were obtained at the gas residence time of 20 s and the loading rate of 475 g/(m³ h). Moreover, the membrane bioreactor is stable enough to suffer weak shock loading and short intermittent process shutdown. These results indicate that the membrane biotechnology shows great potentials in practical applications for xylene removal.