• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.265-276
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• 2007

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effect of media on the performance of biofilters. Two types of experiments were carried out in this study. The first type of experiment used a biofilter with the media composed of three different packing materials of compost, peatmoss and GAC(granular activated carbon), whereas the second type used a biofilter with the media composed of compost only. It was found from the two experiments that the biofilter composed of compost, peatmoss and GAC showed better performance than the one composed of compost only with the higher toluene removal efficiency, lower pressure drop, and more uniform media moisture content. In particular, no appreciable media compression occurred for the biofilter composed of compost, peatmoss and GAC, whereas significant media compression took place in the biofilter composed of compost only. As suggested by the other researchers, it is likely that GAC may be responsible for the higher toluene removal efficiency in the case of the biofilter composed of mixed media especially for the early stage of biofiltration due to its adsorption capability of toluene of such high concentration as 300 ppm. It was also regarded that GAC may playa major role in maintaining lower media pressure drop in the case of the mixed media than the media with compost only because of its mechanical strength resisting to the compression. Nonetheless, further refined experiments may need to draw more accurate conclusion. The results of the additional test run using the same mixed media showed that the biofilter system using the mixed media can be consistently operated for more than 100 days very stably despite sudden change in operating conditions of temperature and flow rate.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.E2
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• pp.74-81
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• 2007

Feasibility test for a biofilter was performed to treat VOCs. The applied loading rate to the biofilter was calculated between 60 to $3,700\;kg\;COD/m^3$. Trimethyl-pentene and trimethyl-hexene were the two most dominant compounds and they occupy about 85 percent. During the acclimation period, it is desirable for a biofilter to receive relatively lower VOCs concentration and flow rate, until it can adjust to new substrate and operational environment. Temperature at various points inside the biofilter reactor was observed with more than 23 temperature sensors. With steam heating, temperatures of the top sections of the media were greater than those of bottom sections. Without steam heating, intermediate stages generally had higher temperature measurement than those of bottom and top stages. Because the pH values for different biofilter materials vary significantly, measurement of the pH for the mixture of different combinations of biofilter materials is necessary. Based on the types and brands of media, the measured pH ranged from 5.38 to 9.10. The range of measured pH of different mixtures with perlite, compost, saw dust, peat moss, limestone, vermiculite was 7.05 to 8.62.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.843-849
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• 2005

The objective of this research was to investigate the removal efficiencies ofVOCs and odors with newly developed biofilter which was designed to sustain the biofilm constantly on the packed media. Initially, four types of media, for example, fiber, activated carbon, ceramic and the mixture of activated carbon and ceramic(AIC mixture J, were used for packed materials of biofilter. When ethylalcohol was selected as a test gas for media efficiency, fiber and AIC mixture had better removal efficiencies of ethyl alcohol than others. Removal efficiencies for acetaldehyde, ethyl alcohol, butylalcohol, ethylacetate and diethylamine in biofilter with fiber and AIC mixture as packed media were increased as the residence time increased. Butylalcohol, especially, showed the maximum removal efficiency among all used VOCs and odors. In case of ethyl acetate, the difference of removal efficiencies between low and high residence times was wide remarkably.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.41-45
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• 2007

It is very important that selection of packing media with large surface area, high limited back pressure in biofilter. The object of this study is the isolation of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria and the removal of hydrogen sulfide in biofilter by media. This investigation led to the following results: 1) we isolated Thiobacillus sp. IW. at an abandoned coal mine in Hwasun, Jeonnam Province. 2) The inorganic media showed better results than the organic media from experiments looking at removal characteristics and changes in pressure drop using various media. 3) Among the inorganic media, fibril and PU media showed best performance.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.127-135
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• 2013

In this study, both pressure drop and microbe-population-distribution were observed while running a novel biofilter system with improved design in which the biofilter system is composed of two, upper and lower biofilters with both equal feed-rates of up-flow and down-flow, respectively. Then they were compared with the pressure drop and microbe-population-distribution observed in a conventional biofilter of the same effective volume with unidirectional flow. The pressure drop-value of biofilter system with improved design turned out to be less at the incipient stage of run or steady-state long term operation by more than 40~80% of that of the conventional biofilter. The microbe-population-distribution was observed to be lower and higher at higher and lower column of biofilter, respectively, for both the conventional biofilter and the biofilter system with improved design. The microbe-media of waste-tire crumb showed much greater CFU counts than GAC. In the biofilter system with improved design, the $bottom{\rightarrow}up$ feeding of waste air showed greater microbe-population growth than the $top{\rightarrow}down$ feeding for both the microbe-media of waste-tire crumb and GAC. However, it was more prominent for the former than the latter. Comparing the microbe-population-distributions of both of the conventional biofilter and the biofilter system with improved design, the microbe-population of latter was distributed ca. 15 and 2.5 times more evenly for GAC and the media of waste-tire crumb, respectively, than that of former.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.501-506
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• 2000

A bench-scale air biofilter was evaluated for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a gas stream. Compost and peat were used as the biological attachment media. Biofilter operating parameters such as incoming VOCs concentrations, temperature, and packing materials were examined. After 26 days of acclimation periods, at 25$^{\circ}C$ and 45$^{\circ}C$, the biofilter removed more than 90% of 30 to 72 mg/㎥ of total VOC. After 40 days of operation, the concentrations of isoprene, toluene, and m-xylene were reduced to 96∼99, 91∼93, and 91∼93% of the original concentrations. VOC removal efficiency was not affected by the temperature. The medium pH was maintained near neutral (pH 6.5∼7.1). After 37 days of operation, the total bacteria count in the biofilter media increased to 1.12${\times}$10(sup)8 cells/g of medium.

• Clean Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2003

Biofiltration was successfully applied to treat a mixture of volatile organic compounds(benzene, xylene) from contaminated air stream. Immobilized Ps. oleovorans biofilter was evaluated for its value in simultaneous removal of benzene and xylene from waste air stream. The variety of operating conditions were tested to evaluate important factors such as space velocity, pH, water content, etc.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.7-16
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• 1999

The objective of this study is to recover the contaminated ditch by using a biofilter filled up with waste-concrete media and vegetation bed. Two systems were tested for elimination of organic compounds, turbidity, nitrogen and phosphate. System 1 is three-stage system which consisted of one biofilter and two vegetation bed, system 2 has three-stage system consisted of one biofilter, one vegetation bed (four bed), and one media trench operated in series. In system 1, HRT of biofilter was 4 hour, and Oenanthe javanica was planted in two vegetation bed. In system 2, HRT of biofilter was varied 2 hours and Persicaria chinensis was planted on the top of the biofilter. And Oenanthe javanica, Hydrocharis asiatica, Salvinia natans were planted in four bed of a vegetation bed and the second vegetation bed of system 1 was rebuilt to a media trench bed. The elimination rate of BOD and turbidity was over 90% in both systems. The mean elimination rates 40~50%(system 1), 30~40%(system 2) for T-N and 40~50% (system 1), 30~40%(system 2)for T-P. T-N and T-P elimination performance of system 1 was a little higher(10%) than that of system 2. Results showed that vegetation bed are not efficient in reducing T-N and T-P. It was considered that HRT of vegetation bed of both systems was much lower(1~2hr) than that of conventional system(5~20days).

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.1027-1033
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• 2005

The treatment of styrene vapor was carried out using the biofilter packed with loess/polyurethane composite during continuous operation of 74 days. The microorganisms were adapted within 2-3 days under the experimental conditions of inlet concentration and empty bed contact time (EBCT). At 200 sec of EBCT, the removal efficiency of styrene was 100\% with 200 ppmv of inlet concentration, while $92\%$ with 400 ppmv of inlet concentration. The biofilter showed the stable removal efficiencies of over $74\%$ under the EBCT range from 300 to 75 sec at the 150 ppmv of inlet styrene concentration. The maximum capacity of styrene removal for the biofilter packed with loess/polyurethane was $29g/m^3/hr$. During continuous operation of 74 days, pH of the drain water changed slightly and the pressure drop through the biofilter column was below $45\;mmH_2O/m$.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 2003

Dairy manure amended with crop and forest residues (moisture 69% wet basis, C/N 22) was composted in a 605 L pilot-scale vessel using continuous air flow (56 L/min) for 19 days. Three pilot-scale sawdust biofilters (moisture 63%, pH 5.0) were built to clean biological waste gas from the composting process. For each methods, two replicated experiments were monitored over a period of three weeks. The system was evaluated to determine the biofilter media depth that would be adequate for compost odour reduction. The compost air cleaning was measured based on ammonia gas concentration before and after passing through the biofilter. Ammonia gas removal efficiency over 3 weeks was 42, 75 and 87% at sawdust biofilter media depth levels of 202, 400 and 600 mm, respectively. Each sawdust biofilter was operated at a moisture content in the range of 60~62% (wb), a temperature from 15 to $25^{\circ}C$, an average pressure drop from 240 to 340 Pa and a detention time from 60 to 180 seconds during the biofiltration process.