Kan Eunsung, Deshusses Marc A
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
Biotechnol Bioeng. 2003 Oct 20;84(2):240-4. doi: 10.1002/bit.10767.
A new type of bioreactor for air pollution control has been developed. The new process relies on an organic-phase emulsion and actively growing pollutant-degrading microorganisms, made into a foam with the air being treated. This new reactor is referred to as a foamed emulsion bioreactor (FEBR). As there is no packing in the reactor, the FEBR is not subject to clogging. Mathematical modeling of the process and proof of concept using a laboratory prototype revealed that the foamed emulsion bioreactor greatly surpasses the performance of existing gas-phase bioreactors. Experimental results showed a toluene elimination capacity as high as 285 g(toluene) m(-3) (reactor) h(-1) with a removal efficiency of 95% at a gas residence time of 15 s and a toluene inlet concentration of 1-1.3 g x m(-3). Oxygen limited the reactor performance at toluene concentration above about 0.7-1.0 g x m(-3); consequently, performance was significantly improved when pure oxygen was added to the contaminated air. The elimination capacity increased from 204 to 408 g x m(-3) h(-1) with >77% toluene removal at toluene inlet concentrations of 2-2.2 g x m(-3). Overall, the results show that the performance of the FEBR far exceeds that of currently used bioreactors for air pollution control.
一种用于空气污染控制的新型生物反应器已被研发出来。新工艺依赖于有机相乳液和活性生长的污染物降解微生物，它们与被处理的空气一起制成泡沫。这种新型反应器被称为泡沫乳液生物反应器（FEBR）。由于反应器中没有填料，FEBR不会发生堵塞。该工艺的数学模型以及使用实验室原型的概念验证表明，泡沫乳液生物反应器的性能大大超过了现有的气相生物反应器。实验结果表明，在气体停留时间为15秒、甲苯入口浓度为1 - 1.3克/立方米的情况下，甲苯去除能力高达285克（甲苯）/立方米（反应器）·小时，去除效率为95%。当甲苯浓度高于约0.7 - 1.0克/立方米时，氧气限制了反应器性能；因此，向受污染空气中添加纯氧时，性能得到显著改善。在甲苯入口浓度为2 - 2.2克/立方米时，去除能力从204增加到408克/立方米·小时，甲苯去除率>77%。总体而言，结果表明FEBR的性能远远超过目前用于空气污染控制的生物反应器。
