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Abstract
Two biotrickling filters were set up at two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in The Netherlands to investigate their effectiveness for treatment of odorous waste gases from different sources. One biotrickling filter was installed at Nieuwe Waterweg WWTP in Hook of Holland to study the hydrogen sulfide removal from headworks waste air. The other reactor was installed at Harnaschpolder WWTP (treating wastewater of the city of The Hague) to remove mercaptans and other organic compounds (odor) coming from the emissions of the anaerobic tanks of the biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge. The performance of both units showed a stable and highly efficient operation under seasonal variations of load and temperature over nearly one year of monitoring. The Nieuwe Waterweg unit achieved removals of up to 99%, corresponding to a maximum daily average elimination capacity (EC) of 55.8 g H2S/m3/h at an empty bed residence time (EBRT) as short as 8.5 s. Odor reduction at the Harnaschpolder unit was 95% at an EBRT of 18.9 s, with average outlet concentration lower than the objective value which was established as 1000 European Odor Units (OUE/m3).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Aad de Brabander and Wim van Bergen Bravenboer (Nieuwe Waterweg WWTP), Erik Knol (Knol Training en Advies), Sylvie Novak, Paul Weij (Delfluent Services BV, a consortium of Evides Industriewater BV and Veolia Water Netherlands BV that operates the WWTP Harnaschpolder) and the staff of PRA Odournet for their kind contributions to this project. Financial support is also acknowledged (Projects CTM2010–15031/TECNO of Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and CI10–100 of Generalitat Valenciana, Spain).
