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A comparison of the performance of bacterial biofilters and fungal–bacterial coupled biofilters in BTEp-X removal

Summary

Researchers compared two types of biofilters for cleaning polluted air from petrochemical plants. Fungal-bacterial biofilters significantly outperformed bacterial-only biofilters at removing harmful aromatic chemicals. The combined system recovered faster after interruptions and remained stable longer during continuous operation, making it more practical for industrial applications.

Background

Conventional bacterial biofilters face challenges in eliminating hydrophobic aromatic compounds due to low water solubility and poor bioavailability. Biofilter operational stability is often hampered by acidification and drying. Fungal-bacterial coupled systems have shown advantages for VOC removal and maintaining performance stability.

Objective

To compare the performance of bacterial biofilters (B-BF) and fungal-bacterial coupled biofilters (F&B-BF) in removing a gas-phase mixture of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and para-xylene (BTEp-X) from petrochemical wastewater treatment plant emissions.

Results

After 4 months, F&B-BF showed higher removal efficiencies for toluene (96.9%), ethylbenzene (92.6%), benzene (83.9%), and para-xylene (83.8%) compared to B-BF (90.1%, 78.7%, 64.8%, 59.3%). F&B-BF recovered faster (2 days vs 5 days) after starvation and maintained superior long-term stability with lower pressure drop increase.

Conclusion

Fungal-bacterial consortia significantly enhance biofiltration removal of BTEp-X vapors. Pseudomonas and Phialophora were identified as key degrading organisms. F&B-BF exhibited superior removal performance, faster recovery, greater operational stability, and higher mineralization rates compared to bacterial biofilters alone.
  • Published in:PeerJ,
  • Study Type:Comparative Experimental Study,
  • Source: 10.7717/peerj.17452
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