The paper presents the experimental results on a biotrickling pilot plant, with a water scrubber as pre-treatment, finalized to the treatment of an airborne toluene stream in a working place. The air stream was characterized by a very high variability of the inlet concentrations of toluene (range: 4.35–68.20 mg Nm−3) with an average concentrations of 16.41 mg Nm−3. The pilot plant has proved its effectiveness in toluene removal, along a 90-day experimentation period, in steady-state conditions. The scrubbing pre-treatment has achieved an average removal efficiency of 69.9 %, but in particular it has proven its suitability in the rough removal of the toluene peak concentrations, allowing a great stability to the following biological process. The biotrickling stage has achieved an additional average removal efficiency of 75.6 %, confirming the good biodegradability of toluene. The biofilm observation by a scanning confocal laser microscope has evidenced a biofilm thickness of 650 μm fully penetrated by toluene degrading bacteria. Among the micro-population Pseudomonas putida resulted the dominant specie. This bacterium can therefore be considered the responsible for most of the toluene degradation. The whole experimented process has determined an average 92.7 % for toluene removal efficiency. This result meets the most stringent limits and recommendations for occupational safety, given by authoritative organizations in the USA and EU; it also meets the odorous threshold concentration of 11.1 mg Nm−3

Airborne toluene removal for minimizing occupational health exposure by means of a trickle-bed biofilter / Raboni, Massimo; Torretta, Vincenzo; Viotti, Paolo. - In: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL. - ISSN 0944-1344. - 23:12(2016), pp. 11751-11758. [10.1007/s11356-016-6352-7]

Airborne toluene removal for minimizing occupational health exposure by means of a trickle-bed biofilter

VIOTTI, Paolo
2016

Abstract

The paper presents the experimental results on a biotrickling pilot plant, with a water scrubber as pre-treatment, finalized to the treatment of an airborne toluene stream in a working place. The air stream was characterized by a very high variability of the inlet concentrations of toluene (range: 4.35–68.20 mg Nm−3) with an average concentrations of 16.41 mg Nm−3. The pilot plant has proved its effectiveness in toluene removal, along a 90-day experimentation period, in steady-state conditions. The scrubbing pre-treatment has achieved an average removal efficiency of 69.9 %, but in particular it has proven its suitability in the rough removal of the toluene peak concentrations, allowing a great stability to the following biological process. The biotrickling stage has achieved an additional average removal efficiency of 75.6 %, confirming the good biodegradability of toluene. The biofilm observation by a scanning confocal laser microscope has evidenced a biofilm thickness of 650 μm fully penetrated by toluene degrading bacteria. Among the micro-population Pseudomonas putida resulted the dominant specie. This bacterium can therefore be considered the responsible for most of the toluene degradation. The whole experimented process has determined an average 92.7 % for toluene removal efficiency. This result meets the most stringent limits and recommendations for occupational safety, given by authoritative organizations in the USA and EU; it also meets the odorous threshold concentration of 11.1 mg Nm−3
2016
Air pollution; Air treatment; Biotrickling; Occupational exposure; Toluene; VOCs; Environmental Chemistry; Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis; Pollution
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Airborne toluene removal for minimizing occupational health exposure by means of a trickle-bed biofilter / Raboni, Massimo; Torretta, Vincenzo; Viotti, Paolo. - In: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL. - ISSN 0944-1344. - 23:12(2016), pp. 11751-11758. [10.1007/s11356-016-6352-7]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/895272
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