H2S and VOCs abatement robustness in biofilters and air diffusion bioreactors: A comparative study

The robustness of a conventional biofilter and an air diffusion bioreactor (ADB) was comparatively evaluated in laboratory-scale plants treating a mixture of H₂S, butanone, toluene and alpha-pinene at gas residence times of 50 s. Under steady state conditions, H₂S, butanone and toluene were almost completely degraded, while alpha-pinene removal did not exhibit removal efficiencies (REs) higher than 11.0 ± 2.3%. Fluctuations in temperature from 8 °C to 30 °C did not impact significantly process performance in any of the biotechnologies tested. However, while the ADB unit was able to cope with three and six fold step increases in pollutant loadings, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) REs noticeably decreased in the biofilter when subjected to a six fold step change (i.e. 90% reduction for butanone and 30% for toluene). A process shutdown of five days resulted in the temporary loss of butanone and toluene RE in the ADB system. A lack of irrigation during five days caused a slight decrease in the biofilter REs, while a failure in the pH control system drastically affected the ADB performance. Finally, process robustness was quantified. The calculated overall risks showed that both biotechnologies were reliable for H₂S and VOCs treatment in wastewater treatment plants, ADB diffusion exhibiting a higher robustness towards fluctuations commonly found under routine operation. This robustness was further confirmed by the high stability of the DGGE profiles.