Biofiltration: An Air Pollution Control Technology for Hydrogen Sulfide Emissions

Abstract

Traditional air polllution control technologies for pollutant gases, such as adsorption, absorption and combustion, were developed to treat high concentration waste gas streams associated with process emissions from stationary point sources. Although these technologies rely on established physico-chemical principles to achieve effective control of gaseous pollutants, in many cases the control technique yields products which require further treatment before disposal or recycling of treatment materials. In the case of treatment of dilute waste gas streams, however, these traditional methods are relatively less effective, more expensive and wasteful in terms of energy consumption; and identification of alternative control measures is warranted. A suitable alternate air pollution control technology is biofiltration, which utilizes naturally occurring microorganisms supported on a stationary bed (filter) to continuously treat contaminants in a flowing waste gas stream. This application of aerobic biodegradation has received considerable attention and use in Europe, particularly in Germany and Holland during the last 15 years.^1–21 In the United States, however, relatively little attention^22–29 has been paid to this emerging, innovative and versatile ‘low’ technology approach to solving current environmental problems in air quality.