Biofilters for Air Emission Treatment

Dekonta provides a complex range of services related to the installation of biofilters in various industrial applications: on-site measurement, pilot testing, design, production, turn-key delivery and maintenance and operation of biofilters. Biofilters can be used for the removal of a wide range of organic, as well as some inorganic, pollutants from air emissions, as well as for odor control.

 

Operational parameters

    • Air flow 100-100.000 m3/h
    • Air temperature 15-35°C
    • Air relative humidity 60-90%
    • pH 6-8

 

Advantages

  • Low investment costs compared to other air pollution control equipment
  • Low operational costs
  • Easy to operate
  • Very high odor and VOC removal efficiency
  • Effective for wide spectrum of volatile organic and inorganic, and odor compounds.
  • Environmentally friendly

 

Areas of use

  • Pain and synthetic resins
  • Plastic production
  • Paint production
  • Chemical and pharmaceutical industry
  • Waste and wastewater treatment
  • Agricultural and food processing
  • Slaughter houses
  • Soil and groundwater remediation
  • Odor control

 

DEKONTA provides the following services in the area of biofilters delivery:

  • Air emissions measurements and preliminary evaluation of biofilter application
  • Pilot-scale testing of biofiltration at the client’s production facilities
  • Design of biofilter installations and permit acquisition
  • Production, delivery and installation of biofilters and related equipment
  • Turn-key supplies of biofilters
  • Monitoring and maintenance of biofilters
  • Delivery of media / substrates for biofilters
  • Operation of biofilters at the client’s site  

 

Research and development

The purpose of Dekonta’s research activities is to further the development, and particularly the design, of biofilter technology for use with volatile organic carbon compounds (VOC’s) and odor-containing gases. Studies being conducted within several research projects expand upon previous research completed in our laboratory reactors can describe the conditions that occur in the “real world”. Thus, results from these projects will be integrating data from laboratory, pilot scale, and full scale units, sharpening the process relationships used for design, and obtaining a more effective design for biofilters that will allow industries to meet air-emission control requirements.

 

Biofiltration

Due to technological improvements and the low operational cost, biofiltration is being used more and more as a method of air emissions treatment. The technology is used especially for air emissions containing volatile organic or inorganic pollutants, including odor compounds.

Biofiltration is highly effective air pollution control technology in which volatilized organic or inorganic contaminants are passed through a bed of porous material. They are absorbed into the surface of the material where they are degraded by microorganisms. From an environmental point of view, biofiltration is a “friendly technology” which does not generate by-products, such as NOx. The technology is operated at an ambient temperature and pressure, and has low investment and operating costs.

 

Products of biofiltration

  • CO2
  • H2O
  • Biomass
  • Other non-toxic substances

 

Biofilter

  • Bed biofilter

The polluted air stream is humidified before entering the biofilter. Pollutants come into contact with the filter material, where they are transferred from the air phase to the water phase. The water phase is represented by a thin biological film covering every material particle. Bacteria strains present in the film of water produce enzymes which support the chemical destruction (oxidation) of pollutants contained in the treated air to carbon dioxide and water.

  • Biotrickling filter

In contrast to biofilters using naturally bioactive material, biotrickling filters use synthetic materials which are inoculated with active bacteria, resulting in surface attached biofilms. The biofilms in a biotrickling filter must be kept moist to maintain bioactivity. Air flowing trough the biotrickling filter draws moisture from the biofilms. A trickling flow of aqueous nutrients must be maintained to provide the active bacteria in the biofilm with nutrients and water.

Integrated environmental solutions